The Dark Frigate [Paperback]

Charles Boardman Hawes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Illustrations. 264 pp. Ages 12 and up. Pub: 10/96. In 17th century England, a terrible accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear of his life. He signs on with a frigate bound for Newfoundland. But when the ship is seized midocean by pirates, Philip is forced to join them on their murderous expeditions. This is a classic Newbery Award-winning pirate adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-In 17th century England, an accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. He signs on with the Rose of Devon, a dark frigate. When the ship is seized in by a devious group of men, Philip is forced to accompany these "gentleman of fortune" on their murderous expeditions. By Charles Boardman Haives.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

In seventeenth century England, a terrible accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. Bred to the sea, he signs on with the "Rose of Devon," a dark frigate bound for the quiet shores of Newfoundland.

Philip's bold spirit and knowledge of the sea soon win him his captain's regard. But when the "Rose of Devon" is seized in midocean by a devious group of men plucked from a floating wreck, Philip is forced to accompany these "gentlemen of fortune" on their murderous expeditions. Like it or not, Philip Marsham is now a pirate--with only the hangman awaiting his return to England.

With its bloody battles, brutal buccaneers, and bold, spirited hero, this rousing tale will enthrall young listeners in search of seafaring adventure. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316350095
• ISBN-13: 978-0316350099
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rousing old fashioned pirate adventure, July 25, 2005

By 

microjoe - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Dark Frigate (Paperback)

A book that is listed at reading level for 12 years and up, but I thoroughly enjoyed it at 42. This book was awarded the Newberry Medal in 1923. A tale of 17th English century life at sea, it is a rousing and realistic story. The author spent years researching ships logs, sailing accounts, and the life stories of many sailing men to get the proper flavor for his tale. A reviewer complained about the old fashioned language, but I think any book about a period in time does a disservice to young people by avoiding using the authentic accents, terminology, and phrasing of the time. To not do so is to rob the reader of the experience of joining the adventure and falling into the story completely. I think that classic period books that have been abridged into modern-speak to make them easier to read are simply talking down to readers and underestimating their capacity and curiosity to learn.

The plot is an adventure of a young man that has been on ships since he was a toddler, and the horrible and good people he interacts with after a horrible accident on land with a gun makes him a fugitive. He goes to the place he knows best, the sea. He joins a ship that is later seized by pirates. Forced to cooperate or die, he unwillingly joins them in operating the vessel but refuses to participate in their bloodthirsty pursuits. And there is action galore, storms, sea battles between ships, attacks on forts, sword fights, cannon fire, you name it.

The characters are interesting and multi-faceted, not gray cutouts but realistic... A woman in a tavern is kind and generous in the beginning, but as soon as she has nothing to gain for her kindness she turns on him viciously. A pirate leader is cold and cruel but points he "bears no ill will", like a mafia don stating before he kills that it is nothing personal, just business. And many characters are not what they seem at first. Our young hero manages to survive day by day with his own cunning, and turn the dark situation to his own gain to escape, clear his name, and discover surprising things about his own ancestors. The plot switches and turns many times, always with a new surprise around the bend. A very enjoyable story, I highly recommend.

By the way, if you have a child or adult that wants to be able to look up the sailing terminology in many of the sea tales (what's a mizzen for example), or simply wants to read more books like this one, try one of the books in my recommendations list at Amazon that has definitions and pictures for these terms, "Seafaring and Pirate books for young people", or at least try one of the following books:
"A Sea of Words", or "Traditions of the Navy", Manual of Seamanship for Boys and Seamen of the Royal Navy", and "Sailing Ships at a Glance".

29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't get discouraged, it gets pretty good!, October 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Frigate (Paperback)

"The Dark Frigate" was the 1923 Newbery Award winner. However, as I read the first few chapters I was thinking to myself, "Boy, the Newbery standards weren't very high back then." My chief problem was that it was written in a very archaic and verbose style. I understand that the author was trying to recreate a feeling of 17th century language for his readers, but any child under the age of 12 is going to get frustrated and I doubt many children over age 12 will enjoy wading through its difficult prose either. Also, this is a strange childrens book in that the main character is not a child, but a 19 yr old man with an eye for comely barmaids.

However, if one can get through the rather awkward writing style and the cursory introductions to key characters, "The Dark Frigate" becomes a real page turner when the pirates enter the story and remains one until the last couple of chapters when the author tries to wrap everything up a little too quickly. The chapters dealing with the pirates, though, make for an extremely entertaining and exciting tale. It's those chapters that made me understand why this book won the Newbery.

Although, written for children, "The Dark Frigate" is a rather grown-up book with murders being described in grisly detail, implied torture, hangings, and female characters who aren't exactly chaste maidens. I guess children in the 20's weren't handled with kid gloves when it came to describing the seedier elements of life.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book for anyone who can tackle it., January 19, 1998

By 

Adam Phippen, reviewer Email: [e-mail] (Wenham, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Frigate (Paperback)

Review by Adam Phippen, Brookwood School Grade 7. Phil Marsham is the main character in the book The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes, which I thought was very good. Phil Marsham was born in England and was English by right of birth. Phil grew up to be a strong willed young lad, who always had a love for the sea. He had a dream to sail the seas and get away from bland people of the county he lived in. Because he wanted to travel the seas he was very adventurous. He was a brave boy for when faced with scary situations he always approached it head on. For example when he had to get away from the farmers who were chasing him he hid in a place that they would not find him. This story took place in the late 1800's in England and around the cost line Phil sailed on. Since the area was under English law Phil had a hard time being a pirate. At this time there were many soldiers to guard ships against the threat that pirates proved to be. Many were very notorious so there were lots of dangers you had to get past if you were a pirate. There were many ugly ways of executing some one and all were feared by rouges. The idea of this book is that Phil is running from the man from the inn since even though it was an accident he still could not face the man, since he would surely die. So he had one choice. To run! This book starts out that Phil is going to London to charter onto a ship. When he stops at an inn Phil accidentally fires a man's gun off. This proved to be a big problem since he destroyed the inn's interior and nearly killed a man. So Phil started running for his life. This is what started the book. This book was great since it was very dramatic and had great descriptions. The drama comes in as it always comes in with the pirates and with their mutiny and their unsavory descriptions. Where there are rouges there are exciting climactic hangings. The well described dramatic battles put a certain edge to the story. What pirate story can go without a well described sea ship battles? This book is a little hard to follow because it is in third person view with conversations. It also uses lots of odd words and phrases and an accent. Some accents make it hard to understand the people in their conversations. You will get baffled some times when you run into a word like "thee", "thou" , "mizzy mast" or "twill". The phrases will sound a little funny too like "the sea pooped us out". For many drama lovers this is a great book. The battles put an action lover's heart at rest. This book has a part for anyone. It even has a couple romances too. It shows what friends will do for each other. It gets funny when drunks run into serious people. What do you get when you put pirates, soldiers and a whole lot of guns together? You get total mayhem. This is a great book for any one who thinks they can tackle it.