Customer Reviews

The Commodore: A Novel of the Sea

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This is an excellent and engaging story of men, ships, and old age by one of the masters of the genre, Jan de Hartog. The story is fairly straightforward -- the protagonist is a retired Dutch sea captain (technically a "Commodore") who is comfortably retired and out to pasture living quietly in the South of France. His old shipping company coaxes him out of retirement to supervise a voyage of a modern oceangoing tug from Holland to its new owners in Taiwan. But of course it is not as straightforward as all that, and in reality this becomes a contest to see who is more tricky and unscrupulous: the ruthless Dutch shipping master, who has long been the reigning king of deep-ocean salvage, or the equally ruthless Taiwanese mandarin who has ambitions of his own. The protagonist, a man of old-school integrity, is caught in the middle of a pitiless struggle for money and power.

Jan de Hartog writes with authenticity, as he was a Dutch tugboat sailor himself. This novel features his usual clear writing, and deliberately-paced storyline. This is an engaging story that captures and retains the reader's interest. Although the story gets a little slow in parts, and takes its time building to its real point, the entire trip is one worth taking, and the patient reader will appreciate this fine novel.