The Captain

by Jan de Hartog

Hamish Hamilton, 1967, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, price-clipped dustjacket shows a little edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping, shipping, creasing and small tears to edges and corners, some age toning  (see photographs)

“Of all Jan de Hartog’s memorable descriptions of life at sea, none compares in excitement with his new novel, The Captain, which contrasts events on two dramatic runs on the Murmansk convoy route during the Second World War.
After Holland is overrun by the Nazis in 1940, young Martinus Harinxma makes his way to England and becomes captain of a Dutch tug assigned to convoy duty as a rescue ship.  His liaison officer, Tyler, is shattered by his first experience of bloodshed when bombers attack the convoy and refuses to take any further part in the blind violence of war – but is killed in a later attack.  Back at sea, Captain Harinxma is beset by the same anguish and revulsion from war that he had seen take possession of Tyler.  His will-power paralysed, he feels that he is helplessly living out the dead man’s life – and at his moment he faces the gravest challenge to his responsibilities as a rescue captain when the Nazis decoy the escort vessels away, leaving the unprotected convoy in danger of destruction.”