Soldier, Sail North [Hardcover]

James Pattinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2009

The gunners on the Golden Ray were a strangely assorted bunch. The seamen were more of a type, but the soldiers seconded to the job could hardly have differed more from one another. There was the professional, Sergeant Willis, in love with his job, Vernon the intellectual, and Miller the tragic communistic misfit who found his Russian Mecca not quite what he expected. The background and past of each character in the book are skillfully woven into the narrative of the ordeal at sea in both directions, and experiences on Russian soil at Murmansk.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Pattinson is the author of more than one hundred books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Robert Hale (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 070908823X
• ISBN-13: 978-0709088233
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars First Published in 1954 Tale of the Hazards Merchants Ships Faced in World War II, November 29, 2009

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Soldier, Sail North (Hardcover)

There's no difference between this and the 1954 published version, there's no author's note or blurbs on the parallels of navies, wars or anything then and now. So just buy which ever version is cheaper.

Soldier, Sail North is a fictional tale of a voyage of the Golden Ray, an ageing small merchant ship transporting goods to Russia from England during World War II. It's crew is made up of both regular sailors, and merchant navy personnel who are on board to man the guns and protect the cargo from the German air and navy attacks. Of course they are pretty helpless against the u-boats and the fear the men on board possess on this factor is very well detailed by Pattinson. As is the knowledge of how the war time convoys operated at sea. On board the Golden Ray is a mixture of experienced seamen, those who want to serve their country, those who don't want to be there at all and resent the fact they are transporting goods to Russia that could be better used at home, most have never been to the arctic before including a communist who is looking forward to seeing the utopia of Russia for the first time, and just for good measure a murderer is also on board who is hoping he will be far enough away for police to get there hands on him.

Pattinson writes well, he usually writes either crime novels or war time maritime adventures. He has written quite a few ocean war time crossing novels, Soldier, Sail North is no better or worse than most of them. There is however nothing really new here, apart from a few different characters on board then were on other boats in other stories. If you've read some of those, there's really nothing new here that you haven't read before. You'd probably rate this higher if this was the only Pattinson war time maritime adventure you have read.