The Derelict

by William Hope Hodgson

William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. He began a four-year apprenticeship as a cabin boy in 1891. In 1899, he opened W. H. Hodgson’s School of Physical Culture offering tailored exercise regimes for personal training. He wrote articles such as Physical Culture versus Recreative Exercises (1903). Hodgson turned his attention to fiction, publishing his first short story, The Goddess of Death (1904). In 1906 the American magazine The Monthly Story Magazine published From the Tideless Sea, the first of Hodgson’s Sargasso Sea stories. His first published novel, The Boats of the “Glen Carrigâ€, appeared in 1907. Amongst his other works are The House on the Borderland (1908), The Ghost Pirates (1909), The Ghost Finder (1910) and The Night Land (1912).

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy, British Literature

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

William Hope Hodgson was an English author. He produced a large body of work, consisting of essays, short fiction, and novels, spanning several overlapping genres including horror, fantastic fiction, and science fiction. Early in his writing career he dedicated effort to poetry, although few of his poems were published during his lifetime. He also attracted some notice as a photographer and achieved some renown as a bodybuilder. Hodgson served with the British Army durng World War One. He died, at age 40, at Ypres, killed by German artillery fire.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who was the Jedi Qui Gon Jinn to H.P. Lovecraft’s Obie Wan Kenobi? The horrible literary Master Po to Lovecraft’s Grasshopper Caine?

Maybe William Hope Hodgson.

Hodgson was an English writer in the late 1800s and early 1900s, who died in the muddy trenches of World War I. His best known work is The House on the Borderland, an early masterpiece of the horror genre and one that bridges the earlier 1800s horror genre of Stevenson and Poe to the later work of Lovecraft that would lead to our modern horror canon.

In The Derelict, Hodgson tells a nautical ghost story that is a forerunner of Lovecraft’s weird, mysterious and cosmic horror stories. Published in 1912 the language and style is reminiscent of Joseph Conrad (Conrad published Under Western Eyes the year before).

A good story in its own right this is an important work for a fan of speculative fiction for its clear influence on the genre.

[Althea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

(1912) Loved this one!

After a ship is blown off course in a storm, a derelict ghost ship is revealed, drifting in the distance. After completing their necessary repairs to their own vessel, the sailors set off in a longboat to investigate. They're curious, of course, but also hoping for lost treasure.

Unfortunately, what they find is in no way anything like what they were hoping for.
Vivid, tense, and also pretty disgusting. I kept picturing this one getting told by a portside tavern's fireplace...

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

If materials, conditions, and the life force are all present, strange things may develop. An abandoned hulk, a derelict ship surrounded by a thick brown scum gives credence to the story an old ship doctor recounts to his listeners. The ship was covered with a thick dirty whitish mold. It bled a purple liquid when the mold coating was broken, and the men who have boarded the ship soon realize, almost too late, that it this mold is living and hostile.

[Alev · Rating 5 out of 5]

2 öykü de gerçekten muazzamdı ama 2.yi daha çok beğendim. İsa’yı anlatırken o kadar derine indi ki ben acısını hissettim resmen.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

A British horror story first published in 1912 about an abandoned ship, supposedly full of treasure but actually full of something far more horrible. Listened to this on Classic Tales podcast.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely narrated. This story is creepy fun on the high seas as only WHH can do. A doctor relates a tale of his younger days when he was onboard a ship that was blown near to a derelict ship after a storm. A few men go over to the ship to investigate. While not one of my favorites of Hodgson's, fans of his should check it out.

[Raymond Towers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hodgson’s Karnacki ghost stories are short stories of around 15 to 25 pages, but they do have three or four angles, plus a twist or two per story to keep things cracking. Not so with The Derelict, or the The Graiken story I read just before this one. There is only one angle in each of these stories, and each story is 15 to 20 pages long, making for slow, dry progress. Also, similar to the Graiken story, everything described here was described much better in the full-length novel The Boats Of Glen Carrig. I’m giving this story 2 stars, mostly for the weird plague the crew discovers on the derelict ship.

[Orkun Yılmaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kitap iki kısa hikayeden oluşuyor. İlki olan Metruk Gemi , tahminimden çok daha heyecanlı ve gerilimli, belki Blob ya da The Thing filmlerinin ana temasına ilham olaması olası. Zamanının çok ötesinde olan hikayenin , (bana göre) günümüzde bile çok muadili yok.
2. Hikaye olan Baumhoff Patlayıcısı ise, değişik bir deney anlatısı, okuyunca Lovacraft'ın nasıl ilham aldığını daha rahat anlayabiliyorsunuz. Ufak bir spoiler olarak; Martyrs filmine bile ilham vermiş olabilir. Bir noktada bilim kurguya bile kaçan hikaye de , ilki gibi zamanının çok ötesinde bir anlatıya sahip.

[Ethan Knierim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't frequently read stories twice. I have never before immediately started re-reading a story upon completion. This story is wonderful (And was made more wonderful by Ian Gordon's narration). The titular thing is interesting and the narration/description is, as I have come to expect from Hodgson, absolutely wonderful.

It's a quick listen. I highly recommend it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x44h5...

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent story, science fiction rather than horror. The crew of a ship that has been blown off course encounters another, apparently deserted ship. Gradually they make the realization that the old ship is alive, that it has somehow become a living organism, and it doesn't like visitors!! Very chilling.

[Burak Emiralp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Metruk Gemi öyküsü inanılmaz güzel, okurken gözlerimin önünde canlandırdım adeta.

İkinci öykü Baumoff Patlayıcısı yazarın herhalde Türkiye'de en sık basılan öyküsü (6,45-Laputa)...

Onun yerine başka bir hikayenin yer almasını dilerdim

[Les Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but enjoyable from start to finish.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

some great gross fungal sf/horror

[Laurence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange mold has taken over this derelict ship, but is that all?

Would have liked a bit more to this story, the premise has a lot of potential.

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice, short, atmospheric.

[Buck Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Proto-Lovecraftian fiction wherein a chatty doctor explains to the Jetsons how he accidentally boarded a shoggoth.

[Tom Mathews · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining, almost Lovecraftian, tale about a visit to a derelict ship that turns out to have a few surprises aboard.

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hodgson turns in a really fine nautical horror piece.

[Dilek Uzunoğlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sanırım biz insanlar en iyi ihtimalle, nankör dilencilerden başka bir şey değiliz! Yine de, yine de, ne şans ama? Şans, nedir ki, ha? "

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story by great author and great narration

[HannahBeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for anyone squeamish of mold.

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another story recommended by Ghost Story Advent - which if you missed my last set of reviews where I explained what that is I shall explain again below - and was my second story by William Hope Hodgson for GSA. I don't believe I'd read anything by him before I read The Whistling Room (which you can also find a review for if you go to that book) and I have to say I'm fairly impressed.

This story starts off in the fairly standard story-within-a-story format, told by an elderly ship's doctor who is recounting a strange event that happened to him some years earlier at sea. A sudden storm disables the ship he's travelling on as a passenger, and in the aftermath, a derelict vessel is discovered. A small boat is sent to investigate containing the doctor, the captain (very risky letting the captain go on an away mission - next you'll be telling me he was wearing a red jumper!) and another crew member (definitely wearing red), and upon boarding the vessel the investigators discover that it is encased in a thick fungus-like encrustation, which begins to dissolve their shoes, as if it is attempting to digest them.

Events quickly escalate and the doctor and the captain manage to get into an old lifeboat and escape back to their own vessel, losing their crew member to the derelict vessel. The doctor muses that the particular combination of cargo aboard the derelict, as it decayed, may have resulted in spontaneous generation of a new life form.

I knocked two stars off this one as the story of men at sea who board a ship with a strange entity on board didn't really grab me (oh the irony) as much as The Whistling Room did, but it's still an incredibly well written and well thought out story. Star Trek references and jokes aside.

And despite the fact that this isn't a ghost story, I will allow it being included in GSA as it was a pretty creepily told tale and at least one man was killed, presumably resulting in his ghost (if not the ghosts of all the ship's previous crew members) haunting the derelict vessel.

If you would like to read The Derelict for yourself, I found a copy of the text on https://williamhopehodgson.wordpress.... and an audio version is on You Tube. With thanks to Wikipedia for most of the summery description.

*What is Ghost Story Advent*
For those not in the know, Ghost Story Advent was dreamt up by the leader of our writing group, who used to have a tradition of reading a short ghost story every day on the run up to Christmas, and then each day he would write a review of said story on his blog. Last year he gave volunteers from our writing group a story each and we had to either write a review of said story or post a video where we talked about the story we were given.

This year he decided to let us do a review or a video about our favourite ghost stories. But the fun of it is that if the story chosen is in the public domain then you can usually find it online and so you can read along with the advent as it goes through the month of December. Some of the stories I had read before, and some – sadly – were not in the public domain, but even so I added 10 new reads to my “read” list and it also helped to push me over the target of 100 books read on my Goodreads reading challenge for last year.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die Kurzgeschichte „Die Herrenlose“ von William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918) erschien 1912 unter dem englischen Titel „The derelict“. Sie erzählt die Geschichte des Schiffsarztes Dr. Dark, der von einem seltsamen Ereignis berichtet, dass er zu Anfang seiner Karriere erlebte. Aus gesundheitlichen Gründen heuerte Dr. Dark als Schiffsarzt auf der "Bheopte" an. Nach einem schweren Sturm muss das Schiff einen Zwischenstopp zwecks Reparaturen einlegen. Die Besatzung entdeckt dabei ganz in der Nähe ein herrenloses Geisterschiff und einige Passagiere beschließen, dieses aus Langeweile zu besichtigen. Der Kapitän setzt Dr. Darke, Cantance und Eleanor Main mit einigen Matrosen über auf das alte Schiff, das vollkommen von Pilz überwuchert ist, und ein gefährliches Eigenleben zu führen scheint.

William Hope Hodgson war ein sehr vielseitiger Autor. Er schrieb Horror- Fantasy und Science Fiction Geschichten und versuchte sich auch an Gedichten. Er starb im Ersten Weltkrieg durch ein deutsches Schrapnell im alter von nur 40 Jahren.

Die Geschichte ist klassisches, geradliniges Seemannsgarn mit einigen wirklich fiesen Momenten.
Die Umsetzung ist wie man es von dieser Reihe gewohnt ist sehr Werksgetreu und die Sprecher durchgehend sehr gut. Selbst in den Nebenrollen wird nicht gespart, wie das bei anderen Verlagen oft vorkommt. Die musikalische und akustische Untermalung ist stimmig, unterstützend aber nicht aufdringlich.

Diese klassische seemännische Schauergeschichte ist in sich abgeschlossen und kann außer der Reihe gehört werden. Es sind keine Kenntnisse von vorherigen Episoden der Reihe notwendig.

[Byron · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Hope Hodgson’s The Derelict is a chilling, atmospheric classic that continues to impress with each reading. This short tale of terror, perfect for a Halloween read, captures a sense of dread and cosmic horror that has influenced later genre-defining works. Hodgson was ahead of his time, pioneering themes and concepts that would later turn up in Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There?, and even foreshadowing the slimy terror of the 1958 film The Blob. Though I have no direct confirmation that this story was an influence on these later works, The Derelict can almost be seen as a blend of Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space and the creeping, shapeless threat in The Blob, making it feel like a foundational piece of creature horror.

In this story, Hodgson expertly crafts an eerie setting aboard an abandoned, decaying ship, and his descriptive prose immerses readers in its rotting, otherworldly atmosphere. As with At the Mountains of Madness, there’s a palpable sense of isolation and unknown danger, and as with The Colour Out of Space, there’s a pervasive question of what can be trusted. The sinister, pulsing, organic presence aboard the derelict vessel is as terrifying as any of Lovecraft’s creations, and Hodgson’s choice to leave much of the mystery unexplained heightens the horror.

For fans of slow-burn horror and classic weird tales, The Derelict is essential reading. It combines the thrill of survival horror with an unsettling glimpse of the unfathomable, cosmic forces lurking in the shadows of our world. Highly recommended, but beware—you may find yourself looking twice at where you let your foot land.

[L J Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this is the quintessential Sargasso Sea horror story. (Note: it’s cousin as the best SS novel length book would be by the same author in his “Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’”). I first read this story back in the late sixties in an Arkham House Book, Deep Waters. Over the years I’ve remembered it often and warmly. I’ve read it a few times since but decided on this occasion to give it a go as an audiobook and I’m pleased I did. The reader does an exceptional job in creating the proper ambiance and leading the listener deeper into the disturbing grip of the derelict. It was not listed as an option here, but I listened to the version with the narrator Fellbrig Napoleon Harriot, an Audible title.

[Kathi Sharp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heard on SFF Audio Podcast. 07/06/23 Heard on The Classic Tales Podcast.

[Sarahandus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish more writers could put words together like William Hope Hodgson. You are really there experienceing the action and the horror.

[Schierke · Rating 4 out of 5]

More 4.5

[Forked Radish · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's what happens when mould is allowed to get the upper hand.