The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes
Updated: Oct 14
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, with no lights and no one on the bridge. When Paul manages to board the Mary Deare, he finds the crew has abandoned her to the storm after a fire in the radio room and cargo holds. Exploring, he meets acting Captain Gideon Patch, who answers few questions but wants to save the ship. Paul helps 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 Captain Patch—answers which add up to sabotage. Paul continues to investigate with Patch and discovers it seems the Mary Deare was meant to be sunk.
This dynamic sea adventure was hard to put down. The story is told in three sections - the discovery, the inquiry, and then the all-out attempt to return to the wrecked ship to prove the facts of the mutiny 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 a more exciting situation than this tense, page-turning tale. The sea was unrelenting, and you could really feel the peril of the men as they attacked it, were stranded in it, and some succumbed to it.
The 1959 movie starring Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston 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.
This classic adventure story is highly recommended.
1956 / Hardcover / 276 pages
My other review for Hammond Innes:
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