The Wreck of the Mary Deare by Hammond Innes

It’s man versus sea in this classic 1956-thriller.

A childhood favourite

Abandoned by all but her exhausted captain, the Mary Deare is slowly sinking near the Channel Islands. There’s a corpse aboard, a sabotaged radio, and a hole in the hull. A nasty gale is whipping up and the tide is pulling her towards a submerged reef…

When mariner John Sands from the Seawitch boards the Mary Deare, he finds the beleaguered and mysterious Captain Patch - and so begins an epic battle of man versus sea.

For me the delight is in the details: in the rich vocabulary of ships and sea, in the realism of the sailing scenes, and in the extended action sequences.

This a classic adventure tale and a childhood favourite of mine.

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