I've been intrigued by this title (and the film made as well) and was happily surprised to find it is a dynamic sea adventure. It was hard to put down.
Paul Sands and his two buddies are sailing through a gale in the Channel Islands when they see a steam freighter coming right towards them, no lights on and no one on the bridge. When Paul manages to board the Mary Deare, he finds the crew has abandoned her to the rough storm after a fire in the radio room and cargo holds. Exploring the ghost ship he meets acting Captain Gideon Patch, who answers few questions, but wants to save the ship. Paul helps him by stoking the engines, but they have taken on too much water, and they purposefully run the Mary Deare onto the rocky outcrop called The Minkies off the coast of France and escape in a life raft.
When they get back to Southampton, there is a court inquiry to discover why the ship was targeted by accidents, what happened to the original captain, the owner of the ship (also on board) and the fate of Patch - answers which add up to sabotage. Paul continues to investigate with Patch and discovers the manifest cargo was not actually on board and it seems the Mary Deare was meant to be sunk.
The story is told in three sections - the discovery of the ship, the inquiry, and then the all out attempt of Patch and Paul's crew to return to the wrecked ship to prove the facts of the mutiny, the missing cargo and restore Patch's reputation. It's an unbelievably harrowing journey in a night storm, with a boat chase and sinkings, lifeboats and sailors stranded with the tides coming in - and still the goal of beating the odds to reach the Mary Deare. I haven't read too many of these nautical adventures, but I can't see how they could have a more exciting situation or outcome than this tense and page turning tale. The stormy sea was unrelenting, and you could really feel the peril of the men as they attacked it, were stranded in it, and some to succumb to it. I enjoyed this as much as Hammond Innes other novel I just read, The Lonely Skier. Time to look up more of his exciting tales.
This was the basis for a 1959 movie starring Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston, which I had to watch after reading the novel. Like many transitions this was streamlined, but surprisingly faithful to the book. There are only two female characters in this manly adventure, and the film changed one female ship owner to a male role, and the captain's daughter - a bitter face of vengeance in the novel - is turned into a lovely and clever ally.
So happy to have found another genuine adventure. If you like the sea, boats, rough men, sabotage, mutiny, explosives, mystery, ships crashing into each other, honour, heroism - all with a dash of justice, I highly recommend The Wreck of the Mary Deare.
It's an enduring, classic adventure story.
1956 / Hardcover / 276 pages
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