Tales of the Sea

In Elder’s debut historical novel, a young sea captain and his wife make a go of it during the Great Age of Sail in the 19th century.

James Jenkins was raised on a farm in Barnstable, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He catches sea fever early, signing onto a voyage in 1844 when he’s barely in his teens. By 23, he’s a captain, and he falls in love with another captain’s daughter, Ruth Fish, and she with him. The key theme of the novel is how sailors reckon with the pull of the sea and how their jobs separate them for months or years from their wives and children, who usually stay home in Barnstable (or New Bedford, or Salem, or Mystic); these are ports where “the world washed ashore every day and well-made plans washed out with the tide.” James and Ruth marry in 1860, and their daughter, Minnie, is born the next year, while James is at sea. In a rarity for the times, Ruth leaves Minnie with her parents and joins James in 1863 on his next long voyage. She takes to the sea with her spouse again three years later, along with Minnie, to the child’s delight. All through this, James and Ruth remain faithful and in love; finally, James realizes that it’s time to quit the sea for good. His ship, the Hoogly, is being retired, and an era of sailing is drawing to a close. Elder’s husband is a descendant of James and Ruth Jenkins, and she discovered a treasure trove of diaries, letters, and other wonderful source material that she puts to good use here. She also includes a nautical glossary and notes on sources in the back matter, among other riches. Along with this family story, readers get a solid background on the times, with mentions of Walt Whitman’s poetry and that new novel, Moby-Dick; the debut of the New York Times; and the agony of the Civil War, as one major character loses a loved one.

A well-developed novel that uses copious historical sources to vividly bring its characters and setting to life.