Johnson, Charles R. (1948- )
Middle Passage.
Atheneum, 1990. 209 pages
Rutherford Calhoun, freed slave, con man
and
n'er-do-well, escapes creditors and and blackmailers in 1830s New
Orleans by stowing away on THE REPUBLIC, a slaver bound for the coast
of Africa. Crewed by an assortment of social misfits, THE REPUBLIC
takes on the last remants of the Allmuseri, a tribe of mystics (some
say sorcerers), and a large, mysterious crate with the aura of the
supernatural. The story is told through Calhoun's eyes, and traces
his transformation as he confronts his private demons during what could
only be described as the sea voyage from Hell. An engaging book which
unfortunately suffers from sloppy editing, particularly in historic
details.
Johnson, Gerald
S.
Tropical Furlough.
Harrap, 1964. 264 pages
Lieutenant Jim Bradford is appointed
supernumerary in the Royal Indian Navy freighter BANGALORE at Colombo
in 1944. As the only other white man he shares the accommodation of the
huge Russian captain on the voyage to Diego Garcia. She is caught by a
typhoon, her machinery and radio destroyed. Left with a permanent list
she is only afloat because of timely precautions. Six of her people are
still alive and they drift, trying to escape the Great Oval Current of
the Indian Ocean, for months. A Japanese raiding submarine sails from
Singapore destroying any enemy commerce in her path including the
steamer, CORAL QUEEN, that connects Diego Garcia with Mauritius leaving
only a handful of survivors, aboard a lifeboat close to death. The
scene is now set for the novel's conclusion.
Johnson, James Leonard (1927- )
The Nine Lives of Alphonse.
Lippincott, 1968. 256 pages
2nd novel in the "Code Name Sebastian"
series. Rev. Raymond Sebastian attempts to rescue Cuban defectors using
an untested midget sub.
Johnson, Walter
Reed
Oakhurst.
New American Library, 1978. 343
pages
American Jeremy Beaufort is pressed into
the RN, fights
French, and becomes slaver in War of 1812.
Johnston, Mary (1870-1936)
1492. Little, Brown, 1922. 315 pages
This is the story of Columbus, but it is
not told through the eyes of an academic or an historian. It is told by a simple
sailor-a Christian of secret Jewish ancestry-whose hopes and fears not only makes
the story more engaging, but all the more realistic.
The Slave Ship.
Little, Brown, 1924. 330
pages
In the 17th century a Scotsman is
shipped off to a
Virginia plantation, escapes, signs onto slaver and takes up the
trade.
Johnston, Ronald (1926- )
Inoco fleet
series:
- Collision Ahead. Doubleday, 1965.
232 pages
INOCO MONARCH, on her maiden voyage,
collides
with a T-2 Tanker in the English Channel in clear weather during
daylight. Was the collision caused by the T-2's drunken captain or
mechanical failure, or did the MONARCH's retiring captain show bad
judgement?
- The Angry Ocean. Harcourt, Brace
& World, 1968. 222 pages
A revolutionary 500,000 ton tanker is on
its
shakedown cruise when a nearby volcanic island erupts creating a
300-foot high tsunami. Survival is complicated by the need to rescue
nearby Japanese fishermen, rather than running away from the wave at
flank speed, and also by a structural flaw in the new supertanker and
the fact that mangaement has saddled her with two captains!
- Sea Story. Atheneum, 1980. 309
pages
James Bruce, forced out at INOCO and
suffering a
busted marriage, returns to the sea as the second officer of a gas
tanker, SEAGAS II to salve his wounds. He discovers that the Seagas
line is operating on a shoestring and cutting safety corners. After
an accident aboard that kills the captain, he is put in command, and
sets about both whipping his command in shape and saving
Seagas.
Disaster at Dungeness.
Collins, 1964. 225 pages
A supertanker makes her way up the
English
Channel on the completion of her maiden voyage. We follow her every
move until the incident the title suggests occurs. This part is well
done but at nearly forty years distance it already has an historic
aspect. The ship itself is just over thirty thousand tons gross, there
are no separation lanes, no Anglo-French Control and nowhere in the
book do the words "ecological" and "environment" occur. The last third,
and least satisfactory part of the book, deals with the Court of
Enquiry that follows.
Red Sky in the Morning.
Collins, 1965. 191 pages
A gun running yacht runs onto a reef on
a
tiny Caribbean island during a hurricane. The rescued Cuban crew prove
more dangerous to the islanders than the weather.
The Wrecking of Offshore Five.
Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968. 191
pages
A WW II mine emerges from the ooze
of the North Sea and drifts down on a veteran oil rig with disastrous
results.
The Flying Dutchman.
Macdonald, 1983. 221 pages
She was the first of her class; a
nuclear
powered big gas tanker. To her master and owners she was the ultimate
and their future depended on her. But to the world's politicians she
was vote and attention grabber supreme, and that made her a pariah
hounded from port to port, never allowed to drop
anchor.
Johnstone, Charles
Chrysal, or the Adventure of a Guinea : Wherein are exhibited views of
several striking scenes, with curious and interested anecdotes of the most noted
persons in every rank of life, whose hands it passed through.
T. Becket, 1760. 2 volumes
Burlesque of Smollett's The
Adventures of Roderick Random.
Jonas,
Carl
Beachhead on the Wind.
Little, Brown, 1945. 212
pages
Tensions on a US Navy ship as it heads
home.
Jones, J. Farragut [pseud. Len
Levinson] (1935- )
Silent
Service:
- Waters Dark and Deep. Dell, 1981. 363 pages
Brilliant engineer Lt. Cdr. Ben Mount
has
two obstacles to overcome in his dream of being a submarine
commander: he's Jewish in the American Navy of 1940, and he suffers
from claustrophobia! He is ordered to England to work with the RN sub
service. At the climax of the book, he sees his British friend get
wounded, boards his British sub, takes over command(!), and
accomplishes the mission in a way that truly defies suspension of
disbelief.
- Forty Fathoms Down. Dell, 1981. 378 pages
Fictionalized account of a US sub that
sinks
during pre-WW II peacetime operations, requiring rescue of its crew.
Based *very* loosely on the SQUALUS incident.
- The Scourge of Scapa Flow. Dell, 1981. 352 pages
Fictionalized account of Gunter Prein's
raid
on Scapa Flow, including assistance by German agent's
ashore.
- Pearl Harbor Periscopes. Dell, 1981. 332 pages
The USS STICKLEBACK is off to attack the
Japanese fleet in home seas, create illusion of entire killer
pack.
- Tracking the Wolfpack. Dell, 1981. 319 pages
Germany's leading submarine ace versus a
Royal Navy bent of revenge.
Jones, Robert F. (1934-2002)
Blood Tide.
Atlantic Monthly, 1990. 272
pages
Young woman and her ex-Vietnam War POW
father sail a
schooner to the Philippines to recover her stolen ketch, encountering
pirates and drug smugglers in the treacherous Flyaway
Islands.
Jones, Tristan (1924-1995)
Dutch treat: a Novel of World War II. Andrews and McMeel, 1979. 271 pages
Thames barge at
Dunkirk.
Aka. Macmillan, 1981. 205 pages
Dolphins try to save drowning solo yacht
racer.
Jordan, Humfrey (1885-1963)
The Commander Shall --.
Angus & Robertson, 1934. 280
pages
On Captain Gaunt's first voyage to
Australia as commander of a fast passenger liner he has to deal with
murder, a fire etc.
This Island Demands.
Hodder & Stoughton, 1941. 320
pages
The Second World War has just started
and
Captain Pell is bound to Australia, in his cargo ship, where he embarks
passengers anxious to return to the UK. Now familiar with the foibles
and quirks of the passengers and crew, we read how, in the Indian
Ocean, a German surface raider destroys the radio and damages the
ship's propeller. Pell and his crew struggle to save the drifting
freighter so she can continue her voyage to Britain. A novel of the
time and for the time.
Decency of Hate.
Hodder & Stoughton, 1943. 192
pages
Day Without Evening.
Hodder & Stoughton, 1944. 240
pages
Joseph,
Mark
To Kill The Potemkin.
D.I. Fine, 1986. 255 pages
Submarine thriller, set in 1968, about
conflict between a US SKIPJACK-class submarine and the first Soviet
Alfa-class boat. Poor on technical detail, but some good
characterisation and a nicely twisted plot.
Typhoon. Simon & Schuster, 1991. 300 pages
Russian faction plans nuclear incident
to regain Soviet
power. Other Russian sub commander tries to prevent it, while US sub
watches and tries to figure out what's going on.
Judd, Denis (1938- )
The Adventures of Long John Silver.
St. Martin's, 1977. 219 pages
A dying John Silver finds an
adult Jim Hawkins, and tells the good doctor of his exploits prior to
the events in Treasure Island.
Return to Treasure Island.
St. Martin's, 1978. 209 pages
During a reunion with Jim Hawkins, Long
John Silver tells of his tireless quest to recover the remaining
treasure from Treasure Island.
