STOWAWAY

by Lawrence Sargent Hall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 1960

A nameless narrator reviews the events aboard the Liberty Belle, an old rust-bucket which did a ""necessary, unromantic job"" during the war- on convoy duty- and the inglorious incidents which capped her tour of duty. It is a more than capable and cumulatively curious story- filled with thoughtful asides on the character and conduct of the men aboard her. They range from the Old Man, keeping alive ""unfaltering fidelities"" to an older tradition; to O'Hara, his first officer, ""a hard man to shave"" driving and demanding; to Sayles, his second, whose act of heroism is accidental and providential, to Simms, the third officer, with no convictions beyond his credo to remain uninvolved. The end of the war sees the Belle in many ports with no particular destination; morale sags, and along with it there is the laxity of conduct and the loss of harmony. The Old Man, sick in his cabin, fights death with a furious determination, while on deck, the narrator, stows away in a lifeboat- having found the burned remains of the radio operator (""The monkey got him"")- and fearing that someone is trying to kill him. At the end, the Belle is boarded by the officers of a destroyer-- and her crew, drugged and dazed, is brought up from below decks while O'Hara takes his life in an acknowledgement of failure and a measure of atonement... This account of the ""disreputable career"" of the Belle and the dissolution of all aboard her- for ""various and contradictory"" reasons is in itself an unusual story, sharpened by the irony and casuistry of the handling. A man's book primarily.

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 1960

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown-A.M.P.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1960

Categories: FICTION