The Survivor: The True Story of the Sinking of the Doggerbank [Hardcover]

Hans Herlin (Author), John Brownjohn (Author, Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr; 1ST edition (February 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850524091
• ISBN-13: 978-0850524093
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,246,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exciting and informative account of danger at sea..., July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Survivor: The True Story of the Sinking of the Doggerbank (Hardcover)

This is a very exciting book with a very realistic, and certainly not boring, account of a boat semi-adrift for about a month without water and without food in the South Atlantic Ocean. This is a very true World War II story, with the Doggerbank being a German supply ship (blockade runner) returning from Japan and bound for German-occupied France with its precious cargo, and the ship being sunk mistakenly by a German submarine before it reached its assigned port.

The book is a translation, so you can expect some of that clumsiness that occurs in such instances; however I was impressed how well the story came through in English -- during the early part of the book the reader could almost smell the diesel fumes from the old German ships as well as the sauerkraut that the German chef was famous for cooking down in the ship's galley.

The book is divided into three parts: (1) how the sole survivor of the Doggerbank managed to finagle his way aboard the ship; (2) the second part is very suspenseful as the Doggerbank passes through a school of u-boats; and (3) the third part is the very best account of how people behave and hold up during a shipwreck (and I've read Nordoff and Hall and The Old Man and the Sea )...

Overall the book is easy reading, exciting, and revealing to the reader. It holds the reader's interest to the point the reader wants to finish the entire book in one session. (It took me two...) A five star book by anybody's accounting.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars WW2 survival story, April 6, 2008

By 

B. Willis (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Survivor: The True Story of the Sinking of the Doggerbank (Hardcover)

I have read numerous survival stories - this one is fine but not a classic tale. It is a short story. I just can't say that there were any unbelievable parts. I would say for the price you can find better adventure stories without trying too hard.