Customer Reviews

Wreck of the "Mary Deare"

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My wife picked up this book in a used bookstore in Seward,Alaska, while on a bike trip. We were looking for a cheep read and were shocked that we had bumbled onto a timeless classic. Half way through my wife, who is a professor and creative writer herself, got so exhited about the storry that she cut the book in half so that I could start on the beginning half of the book. The storry is outstanding (and I generally am not a fan of maritime themes), the writing rivals the great authors of the century, and the research is flawless. A must read. It is the second best book that I have ever read, behind "To Whome the Bell tolls"....this one is a lot less depressing.

I picked up this book as a 13 yr old at a country fair and have been completely heart broken since I lent it a friend who lost it about five years ago. To explain how good it is I have spend these last 5 years doing my damnedest to find a copy. This book should be on every school curriculum. Fascinating, exhilarating, saddening, frustrating - this book brings out every emotion humanly possible. The style of writing leaves you feeling the spirit of the Mary Deare and the shifting of her along the reefs of The Minkies. Fantastic! I cannot wait to get my hands on it again

Classic! Like several other reviewers, I just stumbled on an ancient paperback copy of this in a used bookstore, and what a little treasure it is! hard to believe that in 1956 you could pick this book up for just 35 cents, the same book I just bought for 2.50 (though at a mere 4.7% compound interest I guess it's just as well I bought it now, and not in 1956). I'm so happy to see it's still available; keep your expectations low and this is a fast-moving, cleanly written little sailing adventure that stands the test of time; absolutely perfect vacation, travel, or relaxing read. If you're looking for more: I still have not read the highly touted classic `Riddle of the Sands' but I imagine it's very similar.

This novel starts out fast with a ghost ship coming out of the mist with no one on board and nearly sinking the hero. The action and mystery do not let up through desertion of a crew, court proceedings, boat sinkings, survival at sea and final redemption. The book keeps your interest to the end. A well written sailing adventure.

The "Mary Deare" was a 6000-ton freighter which emerged one night from severe Biscay gales into the English Channel, and into the newspaper headlines. It falls to John Sands, a salvage operator, to investigate what had happened to her. The damage sustained by the ship in the forward holds, the water making headway against the pumps, the shoring of the stoke-hold bulkhead, the fire in the radio shack, the disappearance of crew member Dellimare, the fire in number three hold and the subsequent abandonment of the ship by all except the captain. A disaster resulting in the death of twelve men during a mad scramble to get away from the "Mary Deare" that, in point of fact, was in no immediate danger of sinking...

I first read this book 30 years ago, when I was a kid; I've reread it a few times since and have loved it every time. Innes had a long career and I've enjoyed many of his other books, but none were quite this good.

Everything clicks -- from the opening chapter, when an apparently unmanned freighter, the Mary Deare, nearly runs down a sailboat; to the courtroom drama where the captain is tried for the loss of the Mary Deare; to the return to the wrecked ship, stranded and breaking up on a reef, where the mystery is solved. The story is exciting and very believable. If the action doesn't keep you turning the pages, the mystery will.

If you like classic adventure stories, read this book.

This is one of Innes' best novels. The story is narrated by one John Sands who happens to be on the ship "Mary Deare" accidentaly. He helps the captain Mr. Patch to save the ship. He is intrigued by the captain's weird behaviour. The plot thickens as many things come out in the enquiry. Its the captain's word against that of the first officer Higgins and that of the rest of the surviving crew. They accuse Patch of making them abandon the ship, whereas he claims to have been mugged and left on board by the crew. Besides there is a tidy sum of the marine insurance claim. Also Captain Patch has a record of losing a ship before under similar circumstances. These things together make a superb tale of courage, endurance and mental strength. The book has been crafted very well even though it has a somewhat stereotyped plot. The two protagonists, Patch and Sands, have been etched very well. The development of their relationship in their journeys of stress and trial is very well done. All in all a very good book.

A tramp freighter is abandoned at sea by her crew, leaving only the captain aboard. A free lance salvage operator becomes involved (and serves as the narrator of the tale). A little bit of a whodunnit. Some white-knuckle sailing adventure, a session of courtroom drama (yawn), a dash of benign romance.

The highlights: High adventure in the English Channel/North Sea (I have personally been driven to significant seasickness there), including transport of the reader into the treacherous rocks and shoals of "The Minkies". Transport of the reader into life aboard a wrecked and foundering junk freighter.

The lowpoints: Excessive jargon and minutia regarding sailing vessels (was the author "showing off"?). The whole web of The Mystery became quite confusing. I hung in mostly for the at sea action.

A good tale, but a little overrated in my opinion.

Outstanding book perhaps the best ever written by Innes. Innes has the ability to form a character in the readers mind in fewer words than most writers. As a seaman I confirm his resurch is flawless.

From the back cover:

A floating death-trap...

They called it the Mary Deare, "a floating piece of ironmongery off the junk heap". For forty years she had tramped the seas, suffered shipwreck twice and been torpedoed three times in two world wars. One March, battered and bruised, she came out of the Biscay gales into the Channel....