The Master Mariner: Running Proud – Nicholas Monsarrat
This historical novel has a unique premise. For
an act of cowardice during a battle against the Spanish Armada, an English
sailor is condemned to live forever. This gives the reader the opportunity to
enjoy sea stories set in different eras. The times and settings are: exploring
with Henry Hudson in 1610; piracy in 1670; clerk for Samuel Pepys in 1682;
fishing on the Grand Banks in 1720; navigating the world with Capt James Cook
in 1759 and fighting with Nelson in 1790. The mini-biographies of Hudson,
Pepys, Cook and Nelson brilliantly convey the qualities and achievements that
made them great. The set pieces contain rousing battle sequences and pirate
horrors of torture and rape. Monsarrat’s theme is basically the hardships of
men at sea – that men could endure struggles against officers and adversaries
while undergoing privations of food, comfort, and ordinary companionship
boggles the mind.
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