Captains All

by W.W. Jacobs

A collection of 10 short stories by W. W. Jacobs.

269 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

William Wymark Jacobs was an English author of short stories and novels. Quite popular in his lifetime primarily for his amusing maritime tales of life along the London docks (many of them humorous as well as sardonic in tone). Today he is best known for a few short works of horror fiction. One being "The Monkey's Paw"(published 1902). It has in its own right become a well-known and widely anthologized classic.


~Literary Works

Many Cargoes (1896)
The Skipper's Wooing (1897)
Sea Urchins (1898) /aka More Cargoes (US) (1898)
A Master of Craft (1900)
The Monkey's Paw (1902)
The Toll House (1902)
Light Freights (1901)
At Sunwich Port (1902)
The Barge (1902)
Odd Craft (1903) : contains The Money Box, basis of Laurel and Hardy film Our Relations (1935)
Dialstone Lane (1902)
Captain's All (1905)
Short Cruises (1907)
Salthaven (1908)
Sailors' Knots (1909)
The Toll House (1909)
Ship's Company (1911)
Night Watches (1914)
The Castaways (1916)
Deep Waters (1919)
Sea Whispers (1926)

Reviews

[Lance · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed these 19th century short-stories more than I expected too, the humour is still light and accessible today. The vindictive personalities and small mind of the sailors were reminiscent of modern comedy sketch characters such as those from Little Britain or the League of Gentlemen. I have docked it a star as there were a couple of stories, the ones centred around Bob Pretty, which inexplicably deviated from the nautical theme.
This book was rescued by my partner from a display in a Manchester airport restaurant - a deeply sad end for an elderly book in very good condition. I couldn't help massaging the one ripped page with despair.

[Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A fun and quirky read, loved the humour in the short stories!

[Jerry Bertelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of short stories all ending with a twist. This is a scanned book and has a lot of mistakes in it. It was one of the free ebooks.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another nice typical collection of 10 Jacobs short stories, all enjoyable, but none great, one "horror" story the rest comic pieces, mainly about sailors.