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Pilotage
- GenresFiction
First published January 1, 1961
72 people want to read
About the author
Nevil Shute
99 books1,319 followersNevil Shute Norway was a popular British novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer.
He used Nevil Shute as his pen name, and his full name in his engineering career, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.
He lived in Australia for the ten years before his death.
He used Nevil Shute as his pen name, and his full name in his engineering career, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.
He lived in Australia for the ten years before his death.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 2, 2011
One of the first literary efforts by Nevil Shute, written in the spare time from his engineering job and only published posthumously.
As a novella it is rather short for fully developed characters or complex plot, but the narrative flows naturally, the love of sailing and flying shines through and will colour most of Nevil Shute's following novels, Another worthy aspect of the story is the glimpse into the pioneering flying experiments in the aftermath of WWI - things we now take for granted like flying over the atlantic with mail or launching an airplane from a ship with a catapult were at this stage the cutting edge of technology and requied courage and determination.
As a novella it is rather short for fully developed characters or complex plot, but the narrative flows naturally, the love of sailing and flying shines through and will colour most of Nevil Shute's following novels, Another worthy aspect of the story is the glimpse into the pioneering flying experiments in the aftermath of WWI - things we now take for granted like flying over the atlantic with mail or launching an airplane from a ship with a catapult were at this stage the cutting edge of technology and requied courage and determination.
March 19, 2019
This is the second of the two novellas that Shute wrote early on in his career, but which he decided against publishing. His family, figuring to make some extra cash, did publish them. The two novellas are related, in that they have some common characters. But, if truth be told, they're not nearly up to the quality one would expect from Nevil Shute. Still, neither are exactly bad reads, perhaps just so-so or meh! reads.
Anyway, it seems that Peter Dennison is somewhat smitten by Sheila Wallace. He tells her that he has a job in Honk Kong that will allow him to afford to marry her. She turns him down because she knows he'd be unhappy in Hong Kong, but unfortunately, implies to him that she would be the unhappy one.
So, Dennison goes off into a funk. He takes his sail boat out into the English Channel for a few days, but has a run-in with a much larger ship and is injured. The ship is owned by Sir David Fisher, who is working with Stephen Morris and Capt. Rawden (prominent in the first novella) on a scheme to launch an airplane (well aeroplane, I suppose) from a ship so as to reduce the amount of time important documents can be sent between Europe and the U.S. It seems that airplanes in those days—shortly after the end of World War I—didn't have the ability to fly more than about 1000 miles. So, the idea was to sail the airplane for the first 2000 miles across the Atlantic, and then launch the plane for the rest of the trip. That way they could cut down the transit time from something like 7 days to something like 4 or 5 days.
Dennison, of course doesn't know any of this. But, Sir David seems to remember some sailing history and finds that Dennison was quite a sensation as a sailor and as a navigator in his teen years. They check him out and hire him to be Morris' navigator when they do the test run. Oh, and also, Dennison can pilot Sir David's sporting yacht in the various races in which rich people indulge themselves.
Well, that gives a bit of the story. It's better than the first novella in the series, Stephen Morris, but still a bit rough in spots, as would be expected by something Shute himself didn't deem to be publishable.
When I was in about 4th grade, my father had a gig working on a project that was to launch jet planes from platforms. I think the idea was to have the planes on flat-bed train cars, or perhaps behind huge trucks, that would get the planes to strategic locations, where they could be launched as needed. The work was at an airfield in California, so that year, we got to have our family vacation in California, first a couple of weeks at a motel (with an actual swimming pool!), while my dad did his work, and then a travel around the fun parts of California. I wonder what my dad would have thought about this book. He was an airplane guy.
Anyway, it seems that Peter Dennison is somewhat smitten by Sheila Wallace. He tells her that he has a job in Honk Kong that will allow him to afford to marry her. She turns him down because she knows he'd be unhappy in Hong Kong, but unfortunately, implies to him that she would be the unhappy one.
So, Dennison goes off into a funk. He takes his sail boat out into the English Channel for a few days, but has a run-in with a much larger ship and is injured. The ship is owned by Sir David Fisher, who is working with Stephen Morris and Capt. Rawden (prominent in the first novella) on a scheme to launch an airplane (well aeroplane, I suppose) from a ship so as to reduce the amount of time important documents can be sent between Europe and the U.S. It seems that airplanes in those days—shortly after the end of World War I—didn't have the ability to fly more than about 1000 miles. So, the idea was to sail the airplane for the first 2000 miles across the Atlantic, and then launch the plane for the rest of the trip. That way they could cut down the transit time from something like 7 days to something like 4 or 5 days.
Dennison, of course doesn't know any of this. But, Sir David seems to remember some sailing history and finds that Dennison was quite a sensation as a sailor and as a navigator in his teen years. They check him out and hire him to be Morris' navigator when they do the test run. Oh, and also, Dennison can pilot Sir David's sporting yacht in the various races in which rich people indulge themselves.
Well, that gives a bit of the story. It's better than the first novella in the series, Stephen Morris, but still a bit rough in spots, as would be expected by something Shute himself didn't deem to be publishable.
When I was in about 4th grade, my father had a gig working on a project that was to launch jet planes from platforms. I think the idea was to have the planes on flat-bed train cars, or perhaps behind huge trucks, that would get the planes to strategic locations, where they could be launched as needed. The work was at an airfield in California, so that year, we got to have our family vacation in California, first a couple of weeks at a motel (with an actual swimming pool!), while my dad did his work, and then a travel around the fun parts of California. I wonder what my dad would have thought about this book. He was an airplane guy.
June 14, 2020
A companion to Stephen Morris, yet can stand on its own plot of how a man must make a decision that will affect the possibility of marriage.
Although Peter Dennison is a maritime lawyer, he becomes a flight navigator to Stephen Morris. Together they attempt to make history by creating a trans-Atlantic mail flight. Sandwiched into the storyline is a bit of a romance. Well-developed dialogue and a unique plot.
Although Peter Dennison is a maritime lawyer, he becomes a flight navigator to Stephen Morris. Together they attempt to make history by creating a trans-Atlantic mail flight. Sandwiched into the storyline is a bit of a romance. Well-developed dialogue and a unique plot.
January 23, 2024
Pleasant enough tale but also very informative. Pre transatlantic flight the aviators in this story thought it possible to sale 3 quarters across the Atlantic and then catapult a plane into the air in order to fly the rest of the journey. Pure fiction I thought, but this did happen in order to speed up trans Atlantic mail.
July 29, 2016
PILOTAGE is a semi-continuation of author Nevil Shute's initial fiction offering STEPHEN MORRIS. PILOTAGE begins with the protagonist Peter Dennison having been turned down on his request to marry his girlfriend, because he plans to immediately accept a new job in Hong Kong. She tells his that it is only because she does not want to move to China when it is really because she does not believe he will be happy there at all and is only going there because the higher pay will allow him to afford to marry. The latter part of that is true.
After being spurned Peter immediately decides to take off alone on his small sailing vessel for a week or 10 days. Soon after leaving port, he is accidently run down and somewhat injured be a much larger vessel. The owner of this large sailing yacht Sir David Fisher feels responsible enough for the mishap that while he is getting Peter's vessel repaired, he invites Peter to recuperate on board his vessel. This leads directly to Peter becoming involved in what was then in the early 1920's a seemingly outlandish scheme to fly halfway across the Atlantic Ocean after having been catapulted from the deck of an ocean liner. The whole idea was to prove the viability of this means of faster communication.
The book was actually a novella and because of its fairly brief length it was unable to develop the characters fully. However, it was enjoyable and was a very interesting look at the very primitive state of aviation at this stage of its development. I enjoyed it a good bit.
After being spurned Peter immediately decides to take off alone on his small sailing vessel for a week or 10 days. Soon after leaving port, he is accidently run down and somewhat injured be a much larger vessel. The owner of this large sailing yacht Sir David Fisher feels responsible enough for the mishap that while he is getting Peter's vessel repaired, he invites Peter to recuperate on board his vessel. This leads directly to Peter becoming involved in what was then in the early 1920's a seemingly outlandish scheme to fly halfway across the Atlantic Ocean after having been catapulted from the deck of an ocean liner. The whole idea was to prove the viability of this means of faster communication.
The book was actually a novella and because of its fairly brief length it was unable to develop the characters fully. However, it was enjoyable and was a very interesting look at the very primitive state of aviation at this stage of its development. I enjoyed it a good bit.
October 27, 2014
I'm a huge fan of the author, and I finally got around to reading this, his second novel. It was just okay; I'm glad that he persevered and perfected his craft to write much better books later.
As a book about what must have been a gee-whiz subject for the twenties, catapulting aircraft off ships, it was interesting; rather like the Tom Swift books. Otherwise what struck me was the assumptions about class that were so much a part of the novel. The protagonist was clearly upper-class, and people who weren't, such as the crew of the yacht, were nearly invisible. I wonder about people who can take a months-long sabbatical from work any time they like, and who are considered damaged for life if their favorite expensive hobby is taken away. (Yes, it's probably just jealousy, ha ha.) That seems strange compared to many of his later works, such as Trustee from the Toolroom, which display such sympathy for ordinary working-class people.
As a book about what must have been a gee-whiz subject for the twenties, catapulting aircraft off ships, it was interesting; rather like the Tom Swift books. Otherwise what struck me was the assumptions about class that were so much a part of the novel. The protagonist was clearly upper-class, and people who weren't, such as the crew of the yacht, were nearly invisible. I wonder about people who can take a months-long sabbatical from work any time they like, and who are considered damaged for life if their favorite expensive hobby is taken away. (Yes, it's probably just jealousy, ha ha.) That seems strange compared to many of his later works, such as Trustee from the Toolroom, which display such sympathy for ordinary working-class people.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews