Edison Marshall is one of my favourite adventure writers. I find his early works from the late 1920's and 1930's exciting, and The Far Call from 1927 is no exception. His title The White Brigand had everything you could ask for in a Far East adventure, and Forlorn Island was a solid tale of survival in Alaska in 1932. This is billed as "a thundering tale of modern piracy and reckless adventure".
How can you resist adventure when it's this reckless?
North of fifty-three, north of the Aleutian Islands that string off the tip of Alaska are four islands called the Pribilofs, the inhabited ones named St. Paul and St. George. These treasured islands are rich breeding grounds for walrus and fur seals, their sleek hordes protected from dwindling by a governmental no hunting treaty.
A far cry from the icy depths of the Bering sea, Pal Loring assembles his motley band of modern day pirates in Shanghai ~ Negroes, Chinese, Malay, Norwegians, Danes, Finns, English, Scots and Swedes sign on under Captain Storkersen for a voyage to St. Paul Island led by Pal and his cutthroat plan. After diverting the coast guard, the hunters will land ships, imprison the inhabitants, and begin to kill every last one of the hundreds of seals for a fortune in fur and meat.
Coming ashore at St. Paul in a small dinghy, Pal claims to be lost from his ship in a fog. He's not only welcomed by the locals in the small village but given special treatment. They tell him of the history of the island and he is shocked by the news. So was I. Suddenly, he wants to call off the hunt, to maintain the safety of the island. Is it too late to convince the crew to abandon their plans?
Written in 1927, there are unfortunately racial slurs you have to overlook, but these are countered somewhat by the same portrayed as heroic and equal. It was just a way of speaking back then. Once Pal discovers his connection to the island, he fights with skill alongside the locals when his own men attack. It's an exciting tale of an actual place I had never heard of. Thinking the Pribilofs barren now, I can't imagine what they were like in 1927.
Throw in a voyage from Shanghai and you have a satisfying adventure!
1927 / Hardcover / 284 pages
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