Set before World War I, this enthralling novel pitches two amateur sailors, Davies and Carruthers, against the secret forces of mighty Germany. Powers of deduction and navigational skills prove equally important in uncovering a plot which threatens personal as well as national security. The book was responsible for the UK development of the naval base at Rosyth, as Davies gradually reveals that he suspects that the Germans are undertaking something sinister in the German Frisian islands. This book is said to be the first spy novel and was published in 1903. I enjoyed the book very much but since the author was a sailor the information about yachting was a bit too detailed. I would recommend this book to those who love yachting and spying.
Great spy story - if a little old fashioned in style.
His only novel, written in 1903, is set between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. The milieu is the western coast of Germany, the East Frisian Islands between the Ems and Elbe Rivers. Whats so unusual here? What is Kaiser Bill up to around these nearly barren barrier islands and their attendant ebb tide sand flats? Avast landlubber! Brush up on your nautical nomenclature as most of the action takes place on a small yacht with, at its best, a two-man crew. The treachery of negotiating these tidal flats seems to be a great as rounding Cape Horn. Liken it in some ways to Danas Two Years Before the Mast for nautical detail. The authors approach will make you think that this is non-fiction. In spite of all of the conjecture throughout the book, the truth is not even hinted at until the final few chapters, and there it abruptly ends. If you are not up to the details of sailing, you will find this a tedious book
I recommend this book to sailors of 'small boats,' as they shall enjoy the writing within.
A selection on "The Best Mysteries of all Time," this book was immensely popular when it was released in England in 1903. According to the Afterword, "The book was hailed as the first of a new genre--the spy novel..." However, in 1821 James Femimore Cooper published his "The Spy" about a American revolutionary agent.
While some of the details of sailing bored me, what other book can you read by an author who later was executed by a firing squad for gun-running.
A selection on "The Best Mysteries of all Time," this book was immensely popular when it was released in England in 1903. According to the Afterword, "The book was hailed as the first of a new genre--the spy novel..." However, in 1821 James Femimore Cooper published his "The Spy" about a American revolutionary agent.
While some of the details of sailing bored me, what other book can you read by an author who later was executed by a firing squad for gun-running.
