Customer Reviews

The Boats of the "Glen Carrig"

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_I cannot believe that I never came across this book before in all my reading. I also cannot believe that it was originally published in 1907. This is because it combines two of my favorite life-long interests: realistic sea stories and weird monster tales. In fact, this book reads like C.S. Forester meets H.P. Lovecraft. Or perhaps it is more like _Mysterious Island_ meets _At the Mountains of Madness_. In any case, I loved it.

_Not only is the narrative tight and well crafted, but the technical details are fascinating and accurate. The old fashion style is charming. No one speaks English that perfectly anymore- not even the English. Plus, you can really tell that the author was a merchant seaman in the last days of sail. As for the story itself, it is set in 1757- one hundred and fifty years into the author's past. It is the tale of the strange adventures of the surviving crew of the good ship Glen Carrig after she rips her bottom out on an uncharted rock- and they have to take to the boats. Yet, that rock was the least of the unknowns to put them in peril. They happen first on the unearthly "Land of Lonesomeness" and its otherworldly denizens. Yet, this is only a practice run for the living hell and stark terror of the "Continent of Weed." This appears to be the first use of the Sargasso Sea in a horror story. And Hodgson must have actually been there, for he got too many details right- like the tiny little craps that infest the weed.

_If you like this story, then seek out the author's _The House on the Borderland_. It is even more like Lovecraft- but written long before.