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The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service
Boys are mysterious creatures, with rich imaginations and inner lives at which most can only guess. Luckily, a few writers have the talent to capture their fantasies of extraordinary adventure and epic bravery. Inspired by the success of The Dangerous Book For Boys, the six titles of the Penguin Great Books For Boys collection celebrate the adventurer within every boy with tales of shipwreck, murder, espionage, and survival. With a striking series look that is nostalgic and, at the same time, completely modern, these Great Books For Boys are sure to appeal to boys young and old.
Tempted by the idea of duck shooting, Carruthers joins his friend Davies on a yachting expedition in the Baltic. But Davies has more on his mind than killing fowl. As they navigate the waters and treacherous, shifting sands on board the Dulcibella, Carruthers learns the real reason behind their trip and how the safety of Britain depends on it.
On a wild journey of intrigue and espionage the two men meet danger at every turn, encounter strange sailors and English traitors, and discover a fleet of German war ships assembling amongst the Frisian Islands, ready to invade across the North Sea…
Tempted by the idea of duck shooting, Carruthers joins his friend Davies on a yachting expedition in the Baltic. But Davies has more on his mind than killing fowl. As they navigate the waters and treacherous, shifting sands on board the Dulcibella, Carruthers learns the real reason behind their trip and how the safety of Britain depends on it.
On a wild journey of intrigue and espionage the two men meet danger at every turn, encounter strange sailors and English traitors, and discover a fleet of German war ships assembling amongst the Frisian Islands, ready to invade across the North Sea…
334 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1903
About the author
Erskine Childers
92 books53 followersRobert Erskine Childers DSC, universally known as Erskine Childers, was the author of the influential novel The Riddle of the Sands and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht Asgard. He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War in 1922. He was the son of British Orientalist scholar Robert Caesar Childers; the cousin of Hugh Childers and Robert Barton; and the father of the fourth President of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers.
Childers was a Boer War veteran and was called back to active duty at the start of World War One.
Childers was a Boer War veteran and was called back to active duty at the start of World War One.
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December 18, 2017
”I have read of men who, when forced by their calling to live for long periods in utter solitude--save for a few black faces--have made it a rule to dress regularly for dinner in order to maintain their self-respect and prevent a relapse into barbarism. It was in some such spirit, with an added touch of self-consciousness, that, at seven o’clock in the evening of September 23 in recent years, I was making my evening toilet in my chambers in Pall Mall. I thought the date and the placed justified the parallel: to my advantage even; for the obscure Burmese administrator might well be a man of blunted sensibilities and course fibre, and at least he is alone with nature, while I--well, a young man of condition and fashion, who knows the right people, belongs to the right clubs, has a safe, possibly a brilliant future in the foreign Office, may be excused for a sense of complacent martyrdom, when, with his keen appreciation of the social calendar, he is doomed to the outer solitude of London in September.”
Dulcibella
Carruthers is bored. He is afraid that he will become even more bored. Despite his self-professing connections with all the right people he has hit a snag for plans to relieve the dullness of his carefully controlled existence. Out of the blue, almost as if summoned by his stimulus deprived mind, a letter arrives from a University acquaintance inviting him for a bit of yachting in the Baltic, and a bit of sport shooting ducks.
He doesn’t know Davies very well. In fact, he thought he was a rather odd solitary fellow in school, but weighing the embarrassment of a lack of plans, and the potential awkwardness of spending too much time with a man he might start to find annoying; he decides the embarrassment is more alarming than the potential awkwardness. He give Davies a go.
When he arrives in Holland Carruthers...well...is underwhelmed by the Dulcibella ( a reference to Erskine Childers’s sister of the same name). Visions of a crewed yacht with a cook, and staff to pamper him evaporate when he sees the cramped conditions of the boat. The crew? Well Davies forgot to mention that he might need Carruthers to lend a hand with the sailing.
Carruthers has spent many hours, many days in fact on boats, but he doesn’t know the first bowline about sailing. He will learn. It is quickly apparent that Childers’s had a deep and abiding interest in sailing. For those that love sailing, this book will give you goosebumps over the details that Childers shares about how to sail a boat.
”Whilst Davies, taming the ropes the while, shouted into my ear the subtle mysteries of the art; that fidgeting ripple in the luff of the mainsail and the distant tattle from the hungry jib--signs that they are starved of wind and must be given more; the heavy list and wallow of the hull, the feel of the wind on your cheek instead of your nose, the broader angle of the bungee at the masthead--signs that they have too much, and that she is sagging recreantly to leeward instead of fighting to windward. He taught me the tactics for meeting squalls, and the way to press your advantage when they are defeated; the iron hand in the velvet glove that the wilful tiller needs if you are to gain your ends, with it, the exact set of the sheets necessary to get the easiest and swiftest play of the hull--all those things and many more I struggled to comprehend.”
I felt like I had an anchor hitch around my ankles and was being dragged behind the boat after pages and pages of detailed yachting terminology started to turn my brain into a puddle on the foredeck.
The book is set in 1901 and was published in 1903. It was interesting to hear these young British men speaking so highly of the progressiveness and aggressiveness of Germany. They were a decade away from WWI, but were already expressing fears that England was falling behind if ever there was a tussle with that thundering great nation.
It doesn’t take Carruthers long to determine that he was not asked on this trip to shoot ducks. Davies had a run in with an Englishman named Dollmann and his lovely daughter Clara. In the process Davies was nearly run aground, and his heart has a new pitter patter whenever he has a thought for a certain sweet face. There is a lot of Germanic activity in the German Frisian Islands and the fear is that an invasion of England may be the end game of the rogue Dollmann and his German allies. Davies is torn between loyalty to his country and his growing love for Miss Dollmann.
This is a very early thriller and certainly influenced the genre. It even changed British policy.
”In the years leading up to the First World War, the book’s influence was far-reaching. It actually alerted British naval intelligence to its own shortcomings and to the reality of the German threat, and Winston Churchill later credited it as a major reason that the Admiralty decided to establish naval bases at Invergordon, Rosyth on the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow in Orkney.”
Childers became involved in Irish politics before and during the war. He switched from being a loyal supporter of the British empire to an extreme Irish nationalist. He became great friends with Michael Collins. As what was suppose to be a symbolic gesture, Childers used his yacht to bring arms, and ammunition to the Irish Volunteers. Those weapons were later used in the Easter Rising in 1916.
Childers was playing a very dangerous game.
During the Anglo-Irish Treaty Childers became vehemently opposed to the treaty. The treaty divided the Irish. Before too long Childers finds himself the man without a country, and hunted by the Irish and the English. He was arrested by The Free State forces for carrying a firearm, a gun that was ironically a gift from Michael Collins. He was brought before a court and sentence to death. Childers had reached a point where the Irish who kept referring to him as that bloody Englishman and the British both wanted him out of the picture.
Childers shook hands with each member of the firing squad. He even joked with them: ”Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way.” He instructed his son to shake hands with each of the men that signed his death warrant. He made it clear to his son that his place was in Irish politics. In 1973 Erskine Hamilton Childers Jr. was elected the fourth president of Ireland.
Winston Churchill obviously shaken by Childers fierce support of the Irish cause and in support of his execution made the following statement. "No man has done more harm or done more genuine malice or endeavoured to bring a greater curse upon the common people of Ireland than this strange being, actuated by a deadly and malignant hatred for the land of his birth."
Erskine Childers
On November 24th, 1922 Erskine Childers was executed.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Dulcibella
Carruthers is bored. He is afraid that he will become even more bored. Despite his self-professing connections with all the right people he has hit a snag for plans to relieve the dullness of his carefully controlled existence. Out of the blue, almost as if summoned by his stimulus deprived mind, a letter arrives from a University acquaintance inviting him for a bit of yachting in the Baltic, and a bit of sport shooting ducks.
He doesn’t know Davies very well. In fact, he thought he was a rather odd solitary fellow in school, but weighing the embarrassment of a lack of plans, and the potential awkwardness of spending too much time with a man he might start to find annoying; he decides the embarrassment is more alarming than the potential awkwardness. He give Davies a go.
When he arrives in Holland Carruthers...well...is underwhelmed by the Dulcibella ( a reference to Erskine Childers’s sister of the same name). Visions of a crewed yacht with a cook, and staff to pamper him evaporate when he sees the cramped conditions of the boat. The crew? Well Davies forgot to mention that he might need Carruthers to lend a hand with the sailing.
Carruthers has spent many hours, many days in fact on boats, but he doesn’t know the first bowline about sailing. He will learn. It is quickly apparent that Childers’s had a deep and abiding interest in sailing. For those that love sailing, this book will give you goosebumps over the details that Childers shares about how to sail a boat.
”Whilst Davies, taming the ropes the while, shouted into my ear the subtle mysteries of the art; that fidgeting ripple in the luff of the mainsail and the distant tattle from the hungry jib--signs that they are starved of wind and must be given more; the heavy list and wallow of the hull, the feel of the wind on your cheek instead of your nose, the broader angle of the bungee at the masthead--signs that they have too much, and that she is sagging recreantly to leeward instead of fighting to windward. He taught me the tactics for meeting squalls, and the way to press your advantage when they are defeated; the iron hand in the velvet glove that the wilful tiller needs if you are to gain your ends, with it, the exact set of the sheets necessary to get the easiest and swiftest play of the hull--all those things and many more I struggled to comprehend.”
I felt like I had an anchor hitch around my ankles and was being dragged behind the boat after pages and pages of detailed yachting terminology started to turn my brain into a puddle on the foredeck.
The book is set in 1901 and was published in 1903. It was interesting to hear these young British men speaking so highly of the progressiveness and aggressiveness of Germany. They were a decade away from WWI, but were already expressing fears that England was falling behind if ever there was a tussle with that thundering great nation.
It doesn’t take Carruthers long to determine that he was not asked on this trip to shoot ducks. Davies had a run in with an Englishman named Dollmann and his lovely daughter Clara. In the process Davies was nearly run aground, and his heart has a new pitter patter whenever he has a thought for a certain sweet face. There is a lot of Germanic activity in the German Frisian Islands and the fear is that an invasion of England may be the end game of the rogue Dollmann and his German allies. Davies is torn between loyalty to his country and his growing love for Miss Dollmann.
This is a very early thriller and certainly influenced the genre. It even changed British policy.
”In the years leading up to the First World War, the book’s influence was far-reaching. It actually alerted British naval intelligence to its own shortcomings and to the reality of the German threat, and Winston Churchill later credited it as a major reason that the Admiralty decided to establish naval bases at Invergordon, Rosyth on the Firth of Forth and Scapa Flow in Orkney.”
Childers became involved in Irish politics before and during the war. He switched from being a loyal supporter of the British empire to an extreme Irish nationalist. He became great friends with Michael Collins. As what was suppose to be a symbolic gesture, Childers used his yacht to bring arms, and ammunition to the Irish Volunteers. Those weapons were later used in the Easter Rising in 1916.
Childers was playing a very dangerous game.
During the Anglo-Irish Treaty Childers became vehemently opposed to the treaty. The treaty divided the Irish. Before too long Childers finds himself the man without a country, and hunted by the Irish and the English. He was arrested by The Free State forces for carrying a firearm, a gun that was ironically a gift from Michael Collins. He was brought before a court and sentence to death. Childers had reached a point where the Irish who kept referring to him as that bloody Englishman and the British both wanted him out of the picture.
Childers shook hands with each member of the firing squad. He even joked with them: ”Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way.” He instructed his son to shake hands with each of the men that signed his death warrant. He made it clear to his son that his place was in Irish politics. In 1973 Erskine Hamilton Childers Jr. was elected the fourth president of Ireland.
Winston Churchill obviously shaken by Childers fierce support of the Irish cause and in support of his execution made the following statement. "No man has done more harm or done more genuine malice or endeavoured to bring a greater curse upon the common people of Ireland than this strange being, actuated by a deadly and malignant hatred for the land of his birth."
Erskine Childers
On November 24th, 1922 Erskine Childers was executed.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
November 19, 2023
Sand, sand, and more sand. But not the sand of Lawrence of Arabia's deserts. Baltic sands rise like u-boats then descend in a flash. They hide and appear. They do it again and again. They lurk to catch you out. Keep watch! This book reads like an extended scene from Hitchcock. Suspense is not, as the filmmaker said, a bomb going off. It is knowing it will go off.
"The bomb" here is information. And a suspicion that all is not right. You know that feeling you get that makes you uneasy. Gut reaction. Sixth instinct. Something that doesn't fit. This story warns not to ignore it. Listen to your heart. Lives could be saved if you act. Tell someone. Now, before the bomb goes off or the invasion comes.
"The only way to learn a place like this," Childers writes, "is to see it at low water. The banks are dry then, and the channels are plain." I came away from this thinking how much in low times, like low tides, people reveal themselves. Masks fall. They show the true colors of the flag they would march behind. The nautical language can sometimes be baffling. But the message is there pure and simple.
Ordinary people make up nations. They can save or topple them.
"The bomb" here is information. And a suspicion that all is not right. You know that feeling you get that makes you uneasy. Gut reaction. Sixth instinct. Something that doesn't fit. This story warns not to ignore it. Listen to your heart. Lives could be saved if you act. Tell someone. Now, before the bomb goes off or the invasion comes.
"The only way to learn a place like this," Childers writes, "is to see it at low water. The banks are dry then, and the channels are plain." I came away from this thinking how much in low times, like low tides, people reveal themselves. Masks fall. They show the true colors of the flag they would march behind. The nautical language can sometimes be baffling. But the message is there pure and simple.
Ordinary people make up nations. They can save or topple them.
August 5, 2007
Erskine Childers was shot by firing squad during the Irish civil war in 1922. According to Wikipedia, his last words were a joke at the expense of his executioners: "Take a step or two forward, lads. It will be easier that way."
His son was subsequently elected fourth president of Ireland in an upset election in the 1970's, sadly to die in office a year or so later.
Whatever the circumstances of his life and death, this story is a "cracking good read", one of the earliest novels in the genre of spy fiction. Don't be put off by the various maps and charts at the beginning of the book - it is entirely possible to enjoy the story without knowing anything about sailing (though presumably the fun of the story will be heightened for those who do have some knowledge of sailing and maritime affairs). The voice of the narrator is irresistibly charming, the story is an excellent one, tautly told. I feel almost ashamed to be discovering this story as late in life as I am. But better late than never.
I highly recommend this book.
(I remain infinitely grateful to the Penguin Classics series, available in Spain here for a mere €2.50 a book. They are shooting to pieces my resolution to stop buying books, which I then end up carrying around like a pack-animal. But my rationalization is that I can ship them all home to the U.S. before leaving Salamanca. Next up "The 39 Steps", "The Railway Children", and "Greyfriars Bobby"!)
His son was subsequently elected fourth president of Ireland in an upset election in the 1970's, sadly to die in office a year or so later.
Whatever the circumstances of his life and death, this story is a "cracking good read", one of the earliest novels in the genre of spy fiction. Don't be put off by the various maps and charts at the beginning of the book - it is entirely possible to enjoy the story without knowing anything about sailing (though presumably the fun of the story will be heightened for those who do have some knowledge of sailing and maritime affairs). The voice of the narrator is irresistibly charming, the story is an excellent one, tautly told. I feel almost ashamed to be discovering this story as late in life as I am. But better late than never.
I highly recommend this book.
(I remain infinitely grateful to the Penguin Classics series, available in Spain here for a mere €2.50 a book. They are shooting to pieces my resolution to stop buying books, which I then end up carrying around like a pack-animal. But my rationalization is that I can ship them all home to the U.S. before leaving Salamanca. Next up "The 39 Steps", "The Railway Children", and "Greyfriars Bobby"!)
November 7, 2014
2.5 stars rounded up
This novel is quite an oddity; a very early example of the spy genre and very influential amongst later writers like Le Carre, Follett and Fleming and comparable to Haggard and Buchan. Its author a traditional example of the “stuff that made the Empire”. Of course, nothing is that simple and Childers went from being an ardent supporter of the British Empire, serving in the Boer War and being decorated in the First World War; to being an ardent supporter of Irish independence and member of the IRA and was shot by the British in 1922.
This novel was written in 1903 when Childers was still in his Imperial phase and at the very start of the novel there are a couple of instances of the contempt for other races displayed by imperialists of a certain type; it reminded me of Kiernan’s arguments in “The Lords of Human Kind”.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Carruthers is a minor official working for the foreign office; stuck in London when everyone else is away. He gets an invite to go sailing on the German coast by an acquaintance called Davies. When he arrives Davies has a tale to tell; he suspects the Germans are planning something shady in the area. This was in 1903 when war with Germany seemed unimaginable and the thought of invasion preposterous. Childers constructs a story to show it was possible and how it was possible. If you’re looking for an action-packed spy thriller this is not it. If you enjoy sailing and its technicalities (I don’t) then there is plenty of that. The relationship between the two men is developed quite well and Childers does build some tension quite effectively.
The novel was very influential after its publication and had an effect on British naval policy and the decision to build new naval bases, including the one at Scapa Flow. I must admit I was more interested in Childers’ own story and his move from supporting the establishment to being a member of the IRA.
There is a lot of sand, water, mud, cramped living conditions on small boats and descriptions of tides; you have been warned.
This novel is quite an oddity; a very early example of the spy genre and very influential amongst later writers like Le Carre, Follett and Fleming and comparable to Haggard and Buchan. Its author a traditional example of the “stuff that made the Empire”. Of course, nothing is that simple and Childers went from being an ardent supporter of the British Empire, serving in the Boer War and being decorated in the First World War; to being an ardent supporter of Irish independence and member of the IRA and was shot by the British in 1922.
This novel was written in 1903 when Childers was still in his Imperial phase and at the very start of the novel there are a couple of instances of the contempt for other races displayed by imperialists of a certain type; it reminded me of Kiernan’s arguments in “The Lords of Human Kind”.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Carruthers is a minor official working for the foreign office; stuck in London when everyone else is away. He gets an invite to go sailing on the German coast by an acquaintance called Davies. When he arrives Davies has a tale to tell; he suspects the Germans are planning something shady in the area. This was in 1903 when war with Germany seemed unimaginable and the thought of invasion preposterous. Childers constructs a story to show it was possible and how it was possible. If you’re looking for an action-packed spy thriller this is not it. If you enjoy sailing and its technicalities (I don’t) then there is plenty of that. The relationship between the two men is developed quite well and Childers does build some tension quite effectively.
The novel was very influential after its publication and had an effect on British naval policy and the decision to build new naval bases, including the one at Scapa Flow. I must admit I was more interested in Childers’ own story and his move from supporting the establishment to being a member of the IRA.
There is a lot of sand, water, mud, cramped living conditions on small boats and descriptions of tides; you have been warned.
July 27, 2022
This is a gripping, fascinating account of sailing and running aground on the sandbars of the marshy reaches in Frisia and Holland. I read this maybe a dozen years ago, after I had crewed on the midnight watch (watch and watch, four hours each) coming up from Jacksonville, FLA to Westport, MA (seasickness patch behind my ear). And I had crewed for a week in Penobscot Bay, ME, where I learned from charts that Maine has 3500 islands--and they all look alike, though they do vary from rocks with one pine to rocks and rocks with pines and pines. On that trip, well before GPS, the Master was a maritime engineer and had great charts of every buoy, kept over decades--on a Cal 34.
This was before I got my custom-designed cartoppable sailing trimaran--pic on my cover photo for FB, Alan P Bruno. Mine is an estuarial boat; my wife and I can cross 6" of water, or we can paddle with no wind--we have a pedal rudder and lee board, but no lee scuppers as on RH Dana's brig "Pilgrim" (which we visited, smaller than I thought, built like the original, at Dana Point, CA as is the "Mayflower" in Plymouth MA.)[See my review of Two Years Before the Mast] Contrast the "Charles W Morgan" in Stonington, Conn., the real thing, but New Bedford which first owned it, could not come up with the funds to repair and reconstruct it. So Mystic Seaport, s'porting Conecticut financiers, did.
Erskine Childers was a hero as well as a fine writer, whose son E Hamilton C became the Fourth Prime Minister of Ireland (1973); but the great writer was also a martyr, executed in 1922 for aiding the Irish Fenian movement with guns aboard his yacht. This was during the Irish Revolution.
This was before I got my custom-designed cartoppable sailing trimaran--pic on my cover photo for FB, Alan P Bruno. Mine is an estuarial boat; my wife and I can cross 6" of water, or we can paddle with no wind--we have a pedal rudder and lee board, but no lee scuppers as on RH Dana's brig "Pilgrim" (which we visited, smaller than I thought, built like the original, at Dana Point, CA as is the "Mayflower" in Plymouth MA.)[See my review of Two Years Before the Mast] Contrast the "Charles W Morgan" in Stonington, Conn., the real thing, but New Bedford which first owned it, could not come up with the funds to repair and reconstruct it. So Mystic Seaport, s'porting Conecticut financiers, did.
Erskine Childers was a hero as well as a fine writer, whose son E Hamilton C became the Fourth Prime Minister of Ireland (1973); but the great writer was also a martyr, executed in 1922 for aiding the Irish Fenian movement with guns aboard his yacht. This was during the Irish Revolution.
March 9, 2018
The short book is usually considered the first, if not one of the first, spy thrillers. That is not usually my genre but it always appears on the lists of great "mystery" books, so I thought I should give it a try. Written in 1903, it tells a story which is a precursor to WWI in which German agents are attempting to learn the military secrets of Britain. Carruthers, a lower level clerk in the Foreign Office is invited on a sailing cruise by a friend and the first part of the story is dedicated to that cruise. The reader begins to wonder exactly where the story is going when the friend shares with Carruthers that he is searching for an Englishman with German friends who nearly killed him and who he believes is a traitor.Thus begins the search and the adventure. which takes us through the Fresian Islands to solve the riddle of the elusive traitor. The writing is excellent but some readers may be put off by the plethora of nautical terms.....if you can get past that weakness (if it is a weakness), you will find an enthralling spy thriller which set the model for that genre.
it is ironic to note that the author, Erskine Childers was executed by the British in 1922 as a traitor when he took up the cause of Irish freedom.
it is ironic to note that the author, Erskine Childers was executed by the British in 1922 as a traitor when he took up the cause of Irish freedom.
December 21, 2022
I will pick up on a line from Tom’s review of ‘MI9 Escape and Evasion’ ... “PoW's are agents in the field. They have eyes, they have ears.” This also applies to both successful and unsuccessful escapers and evaders.
The protagonists of this pre-first world-war ‘spy thriller’ exemplify just that: Carruthers and Davies become accidental agents in the field, with eyes, ears and a good dose of wit they gather damning information about ‘The Hun’ and proceed to evade capture. There’s more to whet the appetite: treacherous tides, break-neck yachting, fair maidens, superb scenery, a fine depiction of touring Europe prior to the war to end all wars, and last but not least, heaps of mischief.
Seen by many as a credible tale and a template for spy novels to come. It’s credibility is most likely forged from the fact that the tale shone a light on the weaknesses in Britain’s sea defences; but I think also by fact that the ‘agent in the field’, was back then, in many cases a tourist: some indeed sent by the British on such missions and so, not so accidental.
A great story: nothing far-fetched; and easy to believe how this might possibly have happened.
The protagonists of this pre-first world-war ‘spy thriller’ exemplify just that: Carruthers and Davies become accidental agents in the field, with eyes, ears and a good dose of wit they gather damning information about ‘The Hun’ and proceed to evade capture. There’s more to whet the appetite: treacherous tides, break-neck yachting, fair maidens, superb scenery, a fine depiction of touring Europe prior to the war to end all wars, and last but not least, heaps of mischief.
Seen by many as a credible tale and a template for spy novels to come. It’s credibility is most likely forged from the fact that the tale shone a light on the weaknesses in Britain’s sea defences; but I think also by fact that the ‘agent in the field’, was back then, in many cases a tourist: some indeed sent by the British on such missions and so, not so accidental.
A great story: nothing far-fetched; and easy to believe how this might possibly have happened.
March 17, 2019
It's often credited with being the first spy novel, but The Riddle of the Sands was a rather dull affair. We follow two Englishmen in 1901 as they sail around Germany and stumble into a German plot.
The book had a very strong focus on sailing and a lot of text was spent describing yachting. It seemed like the action didn't kick off until 2/3s of the way through the book and when it did,we were faced with walls and walls of text.
I managed to stumble through to the end but this book really wasn't for me.
The book had a very strong focus on sailing and a lot of text was spent describing yachting. It seemed like the action didn't kick off until 2/3s of the way through the book and when it did,we were faced with walls and walls of text.
I managed to stumble through to the end but this book really wasn't for me.
November 5, 2022
My second reading. It's as good this time around.
December 14, 2016
As for the other two, the girl when I saw her next, in her short boating skirt and tam-o'-shanter, was a miracle of coolness and pluck. But for her I should never have got him away. And ah! how good it was to be out in the wholesome rain again, hurrying to the harbour with my two charges, hurrying them down the greasy ladder to that frail atom of English soil, their first guerdon of home and safety.
The Riddle of the Sands is often hailed as the original spy novel that laid the groundwork for the more famous adventures of later characters such as James Bond. Except, of course, that Childers tale of two young men going off on a sailing trip and inadvertently stopping an invasion is nothing but a boys own adventure story.
Granted, most James Bond novels are adult versions of simple adventure stories, but at least Fleming added some style, some character development, social criticism, and reflections on the complexities of human nature to his stories. As many of you know, and as those long-suffering buddies who have read a Bond novel with me can attest to, I have some problems with some of the attitudes displayed in Fleming's books. Yet, I'd prefer the worst of his writing to the Childers exploits in the spy genre. Not only lacked the story anything memorable (other than the proposed invasion), the proposed politics or assumed strategy in the book seemed quite illogical and just wrong - as would be proven during the First World War. The book is also pretty boring. Well, at least for someone who is not interested in the finer details of sailing.
The aspect that unnerved me most about the book, however, is that it's story of a planned invasion of Britain by Germany fed into a general paranoia held by society at the time, that it took advantage of a fear of being attacked, that it glorified that naive sense of nationalism that would lead so many into the juggernaut that was WWI, and that its publication actually led to Britain building additional naval bases and increase its efforts in the arms race.
Is it not becoming patent that the time has come for training all Englishmen systematically either for the sea or for the rifle?
The Riddle of the Sands is often hailed as the original spy novel that laid the groundwork for the more famous adventures of later characters such as James Bond. Except, of course, that Childers tale of two young men going off on a sailing trip and inadvertently stopping an invasion is nothing but a boys own adventure story.
Granted, most James Bond novels are adult versions of simple adventure stories, but at least Fleming added some style, some character development, social criticism, and reflections on the complexities of human nature to his stories. As many of you know, and as those long-suffering buddies who have read a Bond novel with me can attest to, I have some problems with some of the attitudes displayed in Fleming's books. Yet, I'd prefer the worst of his writing to the Childers exploits in the spy genre. Not only lacked the story anything memorable (other than the proposed invasion), the proposed politics or assumed strategy in the book seemed quite illogical and just wrong - as would be proven during the First World War. The book is also pretty boring. Well, at least for someone who is not interested in the finer details of sailing.
The aspect that unnerved me most about the book, however, is that it's story of a planned invasion of Britain by Germany fed into a general paranoia held by society at the time, that it took advantage of a fear of being attacked, that it glorified that naive sense of nationalism that would lead so many into the juggernaut that was WWI, and that its publication actually led to Britain building additional naval bases and increase its efforts in the arms race.
Is it not becoming patent that the time has come for training all Englishmen systematically either for the sea or for the rifle?
September 21, 2022
I could imagine being there: quaint coastal towns: quaint folk. Although, I'm sure many, must have seen the war clouds gathering, having the means to holiday in Europe during those times must have been blissful.
A great story unfolds: off we go for a few weeks of jolly boating only to discover there's skulduggery afoot.
I don't know a thing about sailing and I did get a little confused at times, but even so, I found this a joy to read.
A great story unfolds: off we go for a few weeks of jolly boating only to discover there's skulduggery afoot.
I don't know a thing about sailing and I did get a little confused at times, but even so, I found this a joy to read.
December 27, 2023
El enigma de las arenas
Libro publicado a principios del siglo XX, está considerado como la primera novela de espías.
La acción transcurre entre las islas Frisias en el mar del Norte y Alemania en el canal del Elba hasta el Báltico.
Las islas Frisias son un conjunto de islas que se encuentran desde la costa holandesa hasta la alemana. Su forma y el hecho de estar muy cerca del continente, hace que las mareas hagan canales que hay que conocer muy bien para no quedar encallados los barcos que se atreven a pasar por ellos.
Con este fondo el autor crea una historia con un par de jóvenes británicos que sospechan que los alemanes estén preparando alguna sorpresa en estas aguas con motivos militares.
Aunque todavía pasarían más de diez años para la primera guerra mundial este escritor irlandés ya intuía algo desde Alemania.
La historia transcurre casi todo el tiempo en el barco entre mareas bajas y canales. Mucho termino naval hasta dar con el misterio de las arenas de las Islas Frisias entre los deltas de los ríos Elba, Weser y Ems. Un poco de geografía no va mal.
Entretenida y escrita con mucha idea. El autor venía de participar en la guerra de los Boers en Sudáfrica. Años más tarde participaría en la primera gran guerra con Gran Bretaña, para luego acabar sus días como miembro del IRA luchando contra los ingleses. Todo un personaje.
Libro publicado a principios del siglo XX, está considerado como la primera novela de espías.
La acción transcurre entre las islas Frisias en el mar del Norte y Alemania en el canal del Elba hasta el Báltico.
Las islas Frisias son un conjunto de islas que se encuentran desde la costa holandesa hasta la alemana. Su forma y el hecho de estar muy cerca del continente, hace que las mareas hagan canales que hay que conocer muy bien para no quedar encallados los barcos que se atreven a pasar por ellos.
Con este fondo el autor crea una historia con un par de jóvenes británicos que sospechan que los alemanes estén preparando alguna sorpresa en estas aguas con motivos militares.
Aunque todavía pasarían más de diez años para la primera guerra mundial este escritor irlandés ya intuía algo desde Alemania.
La historia transcurre casi todo el tiempo en el barco entre mareas bajas y canales. Mucho termino naval hasta dar con el misterio de las arenas de las Islas Frisias entre los deltas de los ríos Elba, Weser y Ems. Un poco de geografía no va mal.
Entretenida y escrita con mucha idea. El autor venía de participar en la guerra de los Boers en Sudáfrica. Años más tarde participaría en la primera gran guerra con Gran Bretaña, para luego acabar sus días como miembro del IRA luchando contra los ingleses. Todo un personaje.
November 11, 2022
In the first third of the book the story line remains rather humdrum, we're offered the trials and tribulations of a young man, of good pedigree, having to suffer the back streets of the East-End in order to find a specific type of rigging screw: from Carey and Neilson, size 1-3/8, galvanized. This errand worries the young man, he might be late for his train.
Having decided to venture along with this story, I realised early-on that a little forbearance was required. The story is set in the last days of the Victorian era (published in 1903) and would today be branded a 'Slow-Burn', probably by many as 'far too slow a burn'. In fairness to it, the prose is written in the style of the day, with lengthy, on occasions incredibly lengthy, scene setting and character analysis. In these times readers I'm sure were more open to be entertained by the delicacies of etiquette, politeness and behaviour: delving in this, I feel, was necessary. Britain's relationship with Germany was becoming more and more strained, with many wishing Britain to wake-up to what might come to pass, and with others urging the authorities to proffer tolerance, with the notion of wait and see. With today's reader of espionage this might be overlooked, but during the time and I believe why many see this as ground-breaking spy-fiction, people in Britain were becoming troubled by the thought of Germany's growing military strength, the growing tensions and the idea of all would come right in the long run. For me, all highlights how the plot is stood on authentic foundations and is a courageous attempt to rouse the unwilling.
Two young men happened to be exploring the shallow waters around the chain of islands off the coast of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. How that comes to be, I'll leave to one side. As I found, not being a yachtsman myself, these waters are no place for the inexperienced. We are offered pages and pages, I kid you not, of how testing (fatal if you are unlucky enough) these waters can be. A good many may find this boring, the detail the author goes for, could be off-putting. Those with any amount of knowledge in off-shore sailing would, I'm sure, get heaps of enjoyment from this. Before I came to the end of the story, I forgave the author for embroiling me in the difficulties of sandbanks, depths, tides, tidal flows and winds, the lengths of which might be considered an attempt to inject excitement into to the yarn, but I saw all this as most relevant when considering how the plotting of the Germans was tied so tightly to these intricacies.
The story ends rather suddenly, which might put today's reader off; again, I believe this can be understood. Germany's plotting has been exposed. Does the author need to take this any further? He's achieved what he set out to achieve:
rattle the man on the street
cause argument at the dinner party
gain the attention of the broadsheet editor
unsettle the war office
Little did anyone know, war with Germany was but a decade away. Publication of this book did force those responsible to revisit Britain's defences.
Some might argue the author had a chequered past and some years after this book found fame met his end in front of a firing squad. His last words were, "Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way."
Some might warn, not long ago, Gavin Williamson did, "Everything has a price."
Having decided to venture along with this story, I realised early-on that a little forbearance was required. The story is set in the last days of the Victorian era (published in 1903) and would today be branded a 'Slow-Burn', probably by many as 'far too slow a burn'. In fairness to it, the prose is written in the style of the day, with lengthy, on occasions incredibly lengthy, scene setting and character analysis. In these times readers I'm sure were more open to be entertained by the delicacies of etiquette, politeness and behaviour: delving in this, I feel, was necessary. Britain's relationship with Germany was becoming more and more strained, with many wishing Britain to wake-up to what might come to pass, and with others urging the authorities to proffer tolerance, with the notion of wait and see. With today's reader of espionage this might be overlooked, but during the time and I believe why many see this as ground-breaking spy-fiction, people in Britain were becoming troubled by the thought of Germany's growing military strength, the growing tensions and the idea of all would come right in the long run. For me, all highlights how the plot is stood on authentic foundations and is a courageous attempt to rouse the unwilling.
Two young men happened to be exploring the shallow waters around the chain of islands off the coast of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. How that comes to be, I'll leave to one side. As I found, not being a yachtsman myself, these waters are no place for the inexperienced. We are offered pages and pages, I kid you not, of how testing (fatal if you are unlucky enough) these waters can be. A good many may find this boring, the detail the author goes for, could be off-putting. Those with any amount of knowledge in off-shore sailing would, I'm sure, get heaps of enjoyment from this. Before I came to the end of the story, I forgave the author for embroiling me in the difficulties of sandbanks, depths, tides, tidal flows and winds, the lengths of which might be considered an attempt to inject excitement into to the yarn, but I saw all this as most relevant when considering how the plotting of the Germans was tied so tightly to these intricacies.
The story ends rather suddenly, which might put today's reader off; again, I believe this can be understood. Germany's plotting has been exposed. Does the author need to take this any further? He's achieved what he set out to achieve:
rattle the man on the street
cause argument at the dinner party
gain the attention of the broadsheet editor
unsettle the war office
Little did anyone know, war with Germany was but a decade away. Publication of this book did force those responsible to revisit Britain's defences.
Some might argue the author had a chequered past and some years after this book found fame met his end in front of a firing squad. His last words were, "Take a step forward, lads. It will be easier that way."
Some might warn, not long ago, Gavin Williamson did, "Everything has a price."
July 12, 2018
Published in 1903, this is both an old-fashioned (in a good way) adventure and a warning to England’s government of the dangers of Germany’s naval plans in the event of war against England. It captures a historical moment marvellously: when young men with no training or formal status could turn into spies and foil a dastardly plan during their summer holiday ;)
While noted as an early espionage thriller, this is markedly better written than many in the genre (honourable exclusions, of course, to writers like le Carré and Mick Herron) and the characterisation is especially interesting when it comes to Davies: a maverick and marginalised man who was rejected from the Navy and now spends his time sailing in a broken-down boat and who knows the coastline like the proverbial back of his hand. The clash between him and the narrator, Carruthers, a Foreign Office man with fluent German (handy, that!) animates the first half of the book until Carruthers’ sulky discontent turns to respect and excitement.
The nautical stuff is *very* detailed – hence the so-so rating, as there’s much guff about tides and sand banks and winds. All the same, an interesting portrait of a simpler time when patriotism and imperial ideology were unquestioned and unequivocably ‘a good thing’.
While noted as an early espionage thriller, this is markedly better written than many in the genre (honourable exclusions, of course, to writers like le Carré and Mick Herron) and the characterisation is especially interesting when it comes to Davies: a maverick and marginalised man who was rejected from the Navy and now spends his time sailing in a broken-down boat and who knows the coastline like the proverbial back of his hand. The clash between him and the narrator, Carruthers, a Foreign Office man with fluent German (handy, that!) animates the first half of the book until Carruthers’ sulky discontent turns to respect and excitement.
The nautical stuff is *very* detailed – hence the so-so rating, as there’s much guff about tides and sand banks and winds. All the same, an interesting portrait of a simpler time when patriotism and imperial ideology were unquestioned and unequivocably ‘a good thing’.
January 30, 2012
I read this book because I totally thought it was about something else. This is what happens when you see a book on a list, in this case the 1001 books to read before you die list, and run off at a tangent because it has the word "sand" in the title! Did I pause to read the 1001BTRBYD entry concerning this book? Nope. I bought it in a second hand store, motored home and curled up on the sofa with the vague and woolly notion of getting some sort of desert-based mystery, possibly with an archaeological flavour.
WRONG WRONG WRONG! (stupid shovelmonkey1)
In fact the story is as far from desert as it is possible to get because it is largely set aboard a boat in the Baltic Sea, therefore, in terms of environment it is the exact opposite of what I'd hoped for. Once I'd gotten over the hurdle of that minor, self imposed disappointment it is actually a decent read. One of the early spy novels (written in 1903), it went on to inspire and inform Le Carre, Buchan, Fleming and probably anyone else who ever wrote a tightly scripted spy thriller. This book has Brits spying on the Germans a good ten years before World War I kicked off, proving that the British were alwaysinsanely suspicious careful (although some elements of modern history suggests that they had pretty good reason to be).
It largely concerns the oober Britishly named Carruthers and chum Davies as they negotiate treacherous sandbanks while tracking sinister and tricksy European types who are probably, maybe without a shadow of a doubt, up to no good in the murky mists off the German Frisian Islands. As usual it's all about Queen and country and not getting got by the damnable Gerrys. It is difficult to imagine how exciting a spy novel can be when it is predominantly populated only by two men on a boat, bobbing about near some islands which no one has ever heard of (apologies if you live on the Frisian Islands), but it managed to hold my notoriously short attention span and was a pleasant and diverting way to tick another book off the 1001 books list.
WRONG WRONG WRONG! (stupid shovelmonkey1)
In fact the story is as far from desert as it is possible to get because it is largely set aboard a boat in the Baltic Sea, therefore, in terms of environment it is the exact opposite of what I'd hoped for. Once I'd gotten over the hurdle of that minor, self imposed disappointment it is actually a decent read. One of the early spy novels (written in 1903), it went on to inspire and inform Le Carre, Buchan, Fleming and probably anyone else who ever wrote a tightly scripted spy thriller. This book has Brits spying on the Germans a good ten years before World War I kicked off, proving that the British were always
It largely concerns the oober Britishly named Carruthers and chum Davies as they negotiate treacherous sandbanks while tracking sinister and tricksy European types who are probably, maybe without a shadow of a doubt, up to no good in the murky mists off the German Frisian Islands. As usual it's all about Queen and country and not getting got by the damnable Gerrys. It is difficult to imagine how exciting a spy novel can be when it is predominantly populated only by two men on a boat, bobbing about near some islands which no one has ever heard of (apologies if you live on the Frisian Islands), but it managed to hold my notoriously short attention span and was a pleasant and diverting way to tick another book off the 1001 books list.
April 10, 2023
Entertaining:
I took from this a peek at life in Europe before WW1. I have read, heard, that travelling Europe in those days was a great joy.
The plot is bang-on. It came to be that the author was a nat's whisker off the truth of what lay ahead. There's much in the press today of 'political stitch-ups'. I have read that Childers was stitched-up. It's unwise, even with the best will in the world, to throw the establishment under the bus. Publication of this wee gem did that, I'm told.
You get more from it if you're a sailing buff, even so, it's a cracker!
It smacks of reality and unlike many in this ilk, there are no yawning gaps in the plot.
I'll drag out that ol' chestnut: 'Write what you know about.' And, it would seem that ol' Childers knew a thing or two about sailing and holidaying in and about the Frisian islands.
Well worth the time and the money. If you're lucky, as I was, you'll pick a copy up from a charity shop or a market stall. There's a fair few in circulation.
I took from this a peek at life in Europe before WW1. I have read, heard, that travelling Europe in those days was a great joy.
The plot is bang-on. It came to be that the author was a nat's whisker off the truth of what lay ahead. There's much in the press today of 'political stitch-ups'. I have read that Childers was stitched-up. It's unwise, even with the best will in the world, to throw the establishment under the bus. Publication of this wee gem did that, I'm told.
You get more from it if you're a sailing buff, even so, it's a cracker!
It smacks of reality and unlike many in this ilk, there are no yawning gaps in the plot.
I'll drag out that ol' chestnut: 'Write what you know about.' And, it would seem that ol' Childers knew a thing or two about sailing and holidaying in and about the Frisian islands.
Well worth the time and the money. If you're lucky, as I was, you'll pick a copy up from a charity shop or a market stall. There's a fair few in circulation.
April 10, 2022
According to my father (he's been a navy buff all of his adult life and read this book many years ago) Germany began planning a seaborne invasion of Britain in 1897. These plans were abandoned in 1899 when it was accepted that the invasion force would need to assemble at major seaports and keeping the preparations for such a large force secret would be impossible and without that secrecy any invasion would flounder.
In 1901 - just two years later - Erskine Childers writes of a German plan to invade Britain where the troops are secretly assembled behind a wide expanse of sandbars [The Frisian Islands] and towed in flat-bottomed barges across the channel.
My father's snippet made the book all that more interesting; what did Childers know? My father suggest that Britain only became aware of these in the run-up to WWI, but also says the publication of this book in 1903 did light a fire and defence plans were hastened and geared towards an attack of this nature.
If this story is based purely on Childer's knowledge of the German coast, his suspicions and vivid imagination, I'm impressed.
It is said, this book set the bar for future 'spy novels'. Today's spy novels pale compared to this. I became totally absorbed in the storyline, accepting that all that happens could have happened: nothing in here is outlandish.
Although I was baffled by the sailing terminology, this is a great story.
In 1901 - just two years later - Erskine Childers writes of a German plan to invade Britain where the troops are secretly assembled behind a wide expanse of sandbars [The Frisian Islands] and towed in flat-bottomed barges across the channel.
My father's snippet made the book all that more interesting; what did Childers know? My father suggest that Britain only became aware of these in the run-up to WWI, but also says the publication of this book in 1903 did light a fire and defence plans were hastened and geared towards an attack of this nature.
If this story is based purely on Childer's knowledge of the German coast, his suspicions and vivid imagination, I'm impressed.
It is said, this book set the bar for future 'spy novels'. Today's spy novels pale compared to this. I became totally absorbed in the storyline, accepting that all that happens could have happened: nothing in here is outlandish.
Although I was baffled by the sailing terminology, this is a great story.
March 7, 2013
It was quite interesting to read which inspired the modern espionage books.
According to Mark Valentine, he ranked it in the top five spy stories of the 20th century, along with Buchan's The 39 Steps, Conrad's The Secret Agent Somerset Maugham's Ashenden and the now unjustly overlooked Bretherton, a Great War tale by Major W.F. Morris.
This was the only fiction book written by Childers who was unfaithful charged by treason since he was found in possession of a firearm - a capital offense by the Irish government at that time, even if it was only a souvenir, a miniature pistol given him by Michael Collins!
By irony of the destiny, his eldest son became the fourth President of Ireland.
A memorable book with plenty of intrigue dealing with the threat of invasion of Britain by the Germans.
According to Mark Valentine, he ranked it in the top five spy stories of the 20th century, along with Buchan's The 39 Steps, Conrad's The Secret Agent Somerset Maugham's Ashenden and the now unjustly overlooked Bretherton, a Great War tale by Major W.F. Morris.
This was the only fiction book written by Childers who was unfaithful charged by treason since he was found in possession of a firearm - a capital offense by the Irish government at that time, even if it was only a souvenir, a miniature pistol given him by Michael Collins!
By irony of the destiny, his eldest son became the fourth President of Ireland.
A memorable book with plenty of intrigue dealing with the threat of invasion of Britain by the Germans.
August 7, 2018
A slow burn that gradually builds to an engrossing finale. It's easy to see why it is often listed as one of the all-time classic spy novels
For ten years after its publication in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands was extremely influential as it highlighted Britain's lack of preparedness in the event of an invasion.
Erskine Childers made a similar sailing voyage, to the one depicted in this book, to the East Frisia coast in Germany, and this experience informs the book's authentic feel. Perhaps the nautical stuff is a bit too detailed, but it leaves the reader in little doubt that Childers knew his onions.
Well worth a read if you are interested in the history of the spy and espionage genre, or just enjoy good old fashioned adventure yarns.
For ten years after its publication in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands was extremely influential as it highlighted Britain's lack of preparedness in the event of an invasion.
Erskine Childers made a similar sailing voyage, to the one depicted in this book, to the East Frisia coast in Germany, and this experience informs the book's authentic feel. Perhaps the nautical stuff is a bit too detailed, but it leaves the reader in little doubt that Childers knew his onions.
Well worth a read if you are interested in the history of the spy and espionage genre, or just enjoy good old fashioned adventure yarns.
December 11, 2021
Was intrigued by the blurb but didn't end up enjoying it very much. Wasn't as interesting as I had hoped
January 15, 2010
I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to finish a book.
From what I understand The Riddle of the Sands is considered one of the first spy stories (at 1903), though the validity of that statement is easily debatable. Regardless, I'm glad to see spy stories have improved significantly. Remember in Moby Dick (unabridged) there are all those chapters about the history of whaling, and whaling boats, and the anatomy of a whale, and what parts can be used for food and candlemaking and whatever else? That's sort of what this was like, except not nearly as exciting. What Childers did here was detail the sea, the beach, the boat, the people, et al, ad nauseum. I considered putting my face on a lit stovetop as that seemed infinitely more exciting than puttering through this.
Carruthers is invited along on a boating holiday with Davies, and he's disappointed when he finds it's a mere sailing boat and not a freaking yacht or whatever. But whatever - Carruthers has no other life, so what the hey. After pages and pages and pages of some stuff that didn't seem the least bit important to me, Davies finally drops into conversation as almost an aside that Germans are considering some nasty plans in the area. Boys will be boys, so they go off (in their sailing boat) to save the day.
Or whatever. That's what I was able to pull out of all the other babble. This is a very British story, filled to the gills with a lot of "By Jove!"'s and "Old chap!"'s and who knows what else. I think it's great there seems to be so many people who really dig this book, or claim they dig it, but I am clearly not one of them. I did, however, make myself finish it, just in case I was missing anything. I don't think I was, but you be your own judge.
Side note: Childers was an Irish writer. I'm seriously beginning to think that I have a problem with Irish writers. I didn't think it was possible, but the books I most often mark at 1 or 2 stars wind up being written by an Irish. Except Dracula which I don't think counts since everyone thinks Bram Stoker is freaking Hungarian or something. Anyway, I'm waiting for the exception to this Irish-writers-suck phase. Certainly that can't be true.
From what I understand The Riddle of the Sands is considered one of the first spy stories (at 1903), though the validity of that statement is easily debatable. Regardless, I'm glad to see spy stories have improved significantly. Remember in Moby Dick (unabridged) there are all those chapters about the history of whaling, and whaling boats, and the anatomy of a whale, and what parts can be used for food and candlemaking and whatever else? That's sort of what this was like, except not nearly as exciting. What Childers did here was detail the sea, the beach, the boat, the people, et al, ad nauseum. I considered putting my face on a lit stovetop as that seemed infinitely more exciting than puttering through this.
Carruthers is invited along on a boating holiday with Davies, and he's disappointed when he finds it's a mere sailing boat and not a freaking yacht or whatever. But whatever - Carruthers has no other life, so what the hey. After pages and pages and pages of some stuff that didn't seem the least bit important to me, Davies finally drops into conversation as almost an aside that Germans are considering some nasty plans in the area. Boys will be boys, so they go off (in their sailing boat) to save the day.
Or whatever. That's what I was able to pull out of all the other babble. This is a very British story, filled to the gills with a lot of "By Jove!"'s and "Old chap!"'s and who knows what else. I think it's great there seems to be so many people who really dig this book, or claim they dig it, but I am clearly not one of them. I did, however, make myself finish it, just in case I was missing anything. I don't think I was, but you be your own judge.
Side note: Childers was an Irish writer. I'm seriously beginning to think that I have a problem with Irish writers. I didn't think it was possible, but the books I most often mark at 1 or 2 stars wind up being written by an Irish. Except Dracula which I don't think counts since everyone thinks Bram Stoker is freaking Hungarian or something. Anyway, I'm waiting for the exception to this Irish-writers-suck phase. Certainly that can't be true.
June 28, 2008
This is a great model for the kind of fiction I love to read: a mostly forgotten novel that evokes a very different place and time. It is billed as one of the first spy novels ever written (1903), a template for the modern thriller, but that's not what I like about it. It's the way it transports us to a time that is now forgotten.
You see, the future always updates the past. We know the end of the story, and we interpret the beginning through the lens of the end. So we know all about WWI and the struggles to come in Europe. But here is someone thinking about the evolving struggle between Britain and Germany in 1903! How cool is that?
(I also love the sense of the sliding window of history, as when one of the character remarks on a location by noting its bloody history when the Germans took that town from the Danes in '68. And then you realize that that long-forgotten war was as recent in 1903 as Vietnam is for us today. Each moment in time has its own window on recent history....speaking of which, also see the wonderful book about Shakespeare: 1599, which talks about how people looking for Shakespeare's "sources" and looking only in books miss the point: what was happening in history right then and there... I'll review that one separately.)
Anyway, good story, fabulous characters, detailed descriptions of a place few of us will ever visit (the vast sandy estuaries at the mouth of the Elbe etc., behind the barrier islands of Nordeney and Juist), wonderful sense of time. A lovely read.
It's funny, categorizing the book, I put it in "historical fiction," but of course at the time, it was current fiction -- in fact, a call to arms, trying to awake people in England to possible risks in a future war with Germany.
I love the sense of
You see, the future always updates the past. We know the end of the story, and we interpret the beginning through the lens of the end. So we know all about WWI and the struggles to come in Europe. But here is someone thinking about the evolving struggle between Britain and Germany in 1903! How cool is that?
(I also love the sense of the sliding window of history, as when one of the character remarks on a location by noting its bloody history when the Germans took that town from the Danes in '68. And then you realize that that long-forgotten war was as recent in 1903 as Vietnam is for us today. Each moment in time has its own window on recent history....speaking of which, also see the wonderful book about Shakespeare: 1599, which talks about how people looking for Shakespeare's "sources" and looking only in books miss the point: what was happening in history right then and there... I'll review that one separately.)
Anyway, good story, fabulous characters, detailed descriptions of a place few of us will ever visit (the vast sandy estuaries at the mouth of the Elbe etc., behind the barrier islands of Nordeney and Juist), wonderful sense of time. A lovely read.
It's funny, categorizing the book, I put it in "historical fiction," but of course at the time, it was current fiction -- in fact, a call to arms, trying to awake people in England to possible risks in a future war with Germany.
I love the sense of
July 28, 2013
This book was given to me with the enticement of its being “the first spy novel.” This may be true, but just as the first submarine was clunky and didn’t submerge much, The Riddle of the Sands is heavy, outmoded and pretty much no fun to read.
Like some of the John Buchan novels (Buchan was a fan of Childers), it is part propaganda, meant to spur on the Brits to prepare themselves against a German attack. Published in 1903, it was later seen as prescient so, historically, it has interest. It is also supposedly of interest to sailors for its great detail.
But if you’re not excited about constantly following the instructions to refer to a tiny Map A or Chart B detailing the channels approaching the Frisian Islands, you’ll be disappointed. The author expects too much of us (he begs the reader to recall a half-hour pause in train schedules mentioned briefly twenty pages back) and explains all of the personal dynamics rather than showing them through dialogue and description.The drama of the ending was one that may have had great impact a century ago, as was its intent, but simply lies flat here in 2009.
Like some of the John Buchan novels (Buchan was a fan of Childers), it is part propaganda, meant to spur on the Brits to prepare themselves against a German attack. Published in 1903, it was later seen as prescient so, historically, it has interest. It is also supposedly of interest to sailors for its great detail.
But if you’re not excited about constantly following the instructions to refer to a tiny Map A or Chart B detailing the channels approaching the Frisian Islands, you’ll be disappointed. The author expects too much of us (he begs the reader to recall a half-hour pause in train schedules mentioned briefly twenty pages back) and explains all of the personal dynamics rather than showing them through dialogue and description.The drama of the ending was one that may have had great impact a century ago, as was its intent, but simply lies flat here in 2009.
August 4, 2022
This is a really interesting book.
There is so much that goes on - and I don't know a thing about what does go on - it's made me feel a little sad, that I don't know a thing really. I was terribly lazy at school and I'm paying the price.
I came away thinking life in Europe before the first-world-war was rather nice. Full of nice people.
The plot is about a sailing holiday when two men discover Germany's secret plans to invade Britain, but even knowing that, the characters all sound so polite and respectable.
There is so much that goes on - and I don't know a thing about what does go on - it's made me feel a little sad, that I don't know a thing really. I was terribly lazy at school and I'm paying the price.
I came away thinking life in Europe before the first-world-war was rather nice. Full of nice people.
The plot is about a sailing holiday when two men discover Germany's secret plans to invade Britain, but even knowing that, the characters all sound so polite and respectable.
May 29, 2022
I read this book many years ago and was impressed by the quality of the writing even though nothing much happened in the way of 'action'.
The story is set in the earliest years of the 20th Century when mistrust between European nations was high. Two British yachtsmen are sailing in the German Frisian Islands and come across a plan for a German invasion of the UK.
The story is set in the earliest years of the 20th Century when mistrust between European nations was high. Two British yachtsmen are sailing in the German Frisian Islands and come across a plan for a German invasion of the UK.
July 18, 2022
I was taken by it, and I applaud it, for many a reason. It shall sit next to, the FEW other choice thrillers on my shelf.
A young man who can sail a fair bit - I'll stop there, and ask: is there a sailor-person (we must do that gender neutral thing, I'm told) out there who's read this and can explain the sailing bits to me as I was lost for most of it? - goes off on a delayed, late in the season, sailing adventure around the sandy shoreline of Germany: these are the sands that pose the riddle.
He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but certainly not dull. He's never gonna make it as a Milk-Tray-Man, but he's worth an inspection from behind your cocktail glass. He knows little, if anything, about being a yesteryear James Bond (this story is set just prior to the outbreak of WW1).
By happenstance, he happens to 'fall-over', more than deduce some dubious goings-on, hidden just back from the sandy coastline.
He doesn't do a twirl and magically appear with his underpants outside of his trousers. He 'tries', and the emphasis is on 'tries', to do the right, and, patriotic thing (he's British). Once you come to realise this is a spy-thriller where the protagonist DOES were his underpants UNDER his trousers, you realise that things hardly ever go according to the plan you wrote on the back of a fag-packet whilst you were getting dry from your early morning shower and before your first coffee.
Struggling to figure the riddle and deal with what, seems to me, can happen when gauging rip currents along the sandy coast of Germany (I know nothing about sailing - ask me a question about horses), he gets tangled up with a few folk who are not all they pretend to be.
No; he is not a super-spy, he doesn't bed every female that comes within fifty-metres of him. He tries to help out, because he figures he can. He's an ordinary-joe with a decent, honourable outlook on life.
Sorry, I forgot to tell: he's not too sure of how the tide is running, so he calls (sends a telegram) to his mate, who can also sail a bit, and asks he would mind coming aboard.
Things don't go well, but, with a bit of canny rigging of the sheets, slicing of the lanyard, spinning of the boat's wheel and, I must add, a firm hold on the rudder, they find the truth behind a nefarious plan to catch the British with their pants down. The question is: do they escape?
I'm not telling: you have to read the book. HaHaHa.
I'm not clever enough to tell you if the writing deserves a pulitzer: I don't care. This is a first-rate thriller that could without doubt have happened. The plot stands tall and says, 'This is as real as it gets.'
I have in my past had a sweet-eye for a few 'boy's-in-books': young Sam Mitchell is my current favourite. But, I'll have to be honest girls; if I went overboard and was fighting to keep my head above water, this is the boy I'd want to sling me a 'floating-doughnut'.
A young man who can sail a fair bit - I'll stop there, and ask: is there a sailor-person (we must do that gender neutral thing, I'm told) out there who's read this and can explain the sailing bits to me as I was lost for most of it? - goes off on a delayed, late in the season, sailing adventure around the sandy shoreline of Germany: these are the sands that pose the riddle.
He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but certainly not dull. He's never gonna make it as a Milk-Tray-Man, but he's worth an inspection from behind your cocktail glass. He knows little, if anything, about being a yesteryear James Bond (this story is set just prior to the outbreak of WW1).
By happenstance, he happens to 'fall-over', more than deduce some dubious goings-on, hidden just back from the sandy coastline.
He doesn't do a twirl and magically appear with his underpants outside of his trousers. He 'tries', and the emphasis is on 'tries', to do the right, and, patriotic thing (he's British). Once you come to realise this is a spy-thriller where the protagonist DOES were his underpants UNDER his trousers, you realise that things hardly ever go according to the plan you wrote on the back of a fag-packet whilst you were getting dry from your early morning shower and before your first coffee.
Struggling to figure the riddle and deal with what, seems to me, can happen when gauging rip currents along the sandy coast of Germany (I know nothing about sailing - ask me a question about horses), he gets tangled up with a few folk who are not all they pretend to be.
No; he is not a super-spy, he doesn't bed every female that comes within fifty-metres of him. He tries to help out, because he figures he can. He's an ordinary-joe with a decent, honourable outlook on life.
Sorry, I forgot to tell: he's not too sure of how the tide is running, so he calls (sends a telegram) to his mate, who can also sail a bit, and asks he would mind coming aboard.
Things don't go well, but, with a bit of canny rigging of the sheets, slicing of the lanyard, spinning of the boat's wheel and, I must add, a firm hold on the rudder, they find the truth behind a nefarious plan to catch the British with their pants down. The question is: do they escape?
I'm not telling: you have to read the book. HaHaHa.
I'm not clever enough to tell you if the writing deserves a pulitzer: I don't care. This is a first-rate thriller that could without doubt have happened. The plot stands tall and says, 'This is as real as it gets.'
I have in my past had a sweet-eye for a few 'boy's-in-books': young Sam Mitchell is my current favourite. But, I'll have to be honest girls; if I went overboard and was fighting to keep my head above water, this is the boy I'd want to sling me a 'floating-doughnut'.
July 20, 2022
This is my day off ........ I stayed up last night and have kept at it since 'breaki', to finish this; and I'll not try to compete with Beth:
The author paints a rosy picture of travelling in pre-war Europe. I do remember a programme narrated by Michael Portillo of train journeys, I believe, across Europe, in those days, and how splendid all was. The politeness and promptitude, described in this, along with the quaintness of coastal life did grab my imagination.
Reading of how they survived aboard with their cooking and messing was fun and did conjure great pictures for me.
I do reckon a girl, in those times, could hitch her skirt, jump aboard and ask for help without too much of a worry.
You'd have to wear a full cosy, back then, a bikini would give the wrong impression, but a girl with an ounce of pluck might just win a heart with a bit of floundering around in the briny when the right sort are taking their constitutional along the water's edge. I'll bet it happened.
I took a squint on the web and the tides in and around those sands are not to be trifled with and have put an end to a number of boater's days.
Don't be fooled, behind it all is a dastardly plot.
I'm not giving it away; but in considering the times and the war that did come only a few years after, I'd say this portrays the efforts of two, rather spiffing, young chaps who saved Britain's bacon.
The author paints a rosy picture of travelling in pre-war Europe. I do remember a programme narrated by Michael Portillo of train journeys, I believe, across Europe, in those days, and how splendid all was. The politeness and promptitude, described in this, along with the quaintness of coastal life did grab my imagination.
Reading of how they survived aboard with their cooking and messing was fun and did conjure great pictures for me.
I do reckon a girl, in those times, could hitch her skirt, jump aboard and ask for help without too much of a worry.
You'd have to wear a full cosy, back then, a bikini would give the wrong impression, but a girl with an ounce of pluck might just win a heart with a bit of floundering around in the briny when the right sort are taking their constitutional along the water's edge. I'll bet it happened.
I took a squint on the web and the tides in and around those sands are not to be trifled with and have put an end to a number of boater's days.
Don't be fooled, behind it all is a dastardly plot.
I'm not giving it away; but in considering the times and the war that did come only a few years after, I'd say this portrays the efforts of two, rather spiffing, young chaps who saved Britain's bacon.
March 13, 2019
Britannia rules the waves?
Our narrator, Carruthers, finds himself having to stay on at his job in the Foreign Office while all his fashionable friends depart for country house parties, apparently managing to cope with his absence with less difficulty than he’d have liked. Released at last for his annual holiday, he finds himself with nowhere in particular to go, so when an old friend writes inviting him to spend some time on his yacht duck-shooting in the Baltic, he decides to take him up on the offer. He’s expecting a well-appointed leisure yacht complete with crew, so is taken aback to discover that the Dulcibella is tiny, strictly functional and manned only by his friend, Davies. Throwing off his initial grumpiness, Carruthers settles in to learn the art of sailing under Davies’ expert tutelage. But he soon discovers that Davies has an ulterior motive for wanting him there – Davies suspects that there’s some kind of German plot being developed along the Baltic coastline, and wants Carruthers to help him investigate...
The beginning of the book is a lot of fun, filled with self-deprecating humour as Carruthers first realises that his fashionable world can survive quite happily without him and then discovers that, rather than swanning about on a nice, clean deck in his natty sailing outfit, he’s expected to share a tiny cabin with Davies, eat off a paraffin stove, and work for his passage. He’s very likeable – the archetypal patriotic gentlemanly hero beloved of English fiction of that era. (And still beloved by this Scot today, I freely admit.) Davies is a little rougher around the edges, but is also entirely decent and honourable.
When they start to sail, the book doesn’t stint on nautical facts and terminology. My Oxford World’s Classics edition contains a glossary of terms as well as the usual informative introduction and notes, which tell a bit about Childers’ life – an intriguing story on its own account – and the literary and historical background to the book. There are also charts! Sea charts! And charts of the various coastlines. I know some people will find it a little odd, but I can’t resist a chart, map or plan in a book, so to have an abundance of them added immensely to the fun.
The story gradually takes on a more serious tone, though, once Davies reveals his suspicions. The book was first published in 1903, and I thought it casts a fascinating light on the attitudes of the British ruling classes to their counterparts in Germany at that point in time. Were we more European then than now? Perhaps. Our public service was populated with the younger sons of the lower aristocracy, all public school educated and many of them well-travelled in Europe and passably fluent in more than one language. Our Royals across Europe were all related to each other, and I imagine the same was probably true of a lot of the aristocracy. Today Germany is our friend; in my childhood, it was still perceived as our enemy; back at the time of this book, there’s a perception of it as being a kind of family member, a cousin perhaps. Not altogether surprising, given that our Royal Family is German, as was Queen Victoria’s beloved Albert (and hence all their thousands of offspring).
But Germany was growing and becoming more powerful at this time, and while Carruthers and Davies feel goodwill towards it and admire all the Kaiser is doing to advance his country, they also see it as a potential opponent in the future. There’s an odd sporting edge to this – they rather look forward to meeting Germany in war one day, as if it were some form of jousting contest fought for honour and glory. (One can’t help but hope neither of them were in Passchendaele or the Somme twelve or thirteen years later.)
The emphasis of the book is on the growth of Germany as a naval power, and it becomes ever clearer that Childers’ real purpose in writing it was to send a warning to the powers-that-be in Britain that we shouldn’t take our naval supremacy for granted, especially in the North Sea. Unfortunately, as the rather polemical message grows stronger, the entertainment side of it gets somewhat sidelined, and I didn’t enjoy the second half quite as much as the first. Childers goes into far more detail on the potential naval threat and how Germany might use this bit of coastline to launch a future attack on Britain than makes for a good adventure story – at points it feels more like a report to the Foreign Office. And, since his purpose was to warn of a growing threat, it couldn’t have the kind of enemies-destroyed-rip-roaring-success-hurrah-for-good-old-England ending that this type of novel normally goes for.
However, there is plenty of adventure along the way, danger and derring-do, and a rather understated (and unnecessary) romance element, which the introduction informs me was more or less forced on Childers by his publishers. All-in-all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Carruthers’ development from fashionable young man-about-town to patriotic amateur spy, and the intriguing look at the British-German relationship of the time more than made up for the shortcomings of the adventure story in the second half. This one undoubtedly deserves it status as a classic of espionage fiction. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Oxford World’s Classics.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Our narrator, Carruthers, finds himself having to stay on at his job in the Foreign Office while all his fashionable friends depart for country house parties, apparently managing to cope with his absence with less difficulty than he’d have liked. Released at last for his annual holiday, he finds himself with nowhere in particular to go, so when an old friend writes inviting him to spend some time on his yacht duck-shooting in the Baltic, he decides to take him up on the offer. He’s expecting a well-appointed leisure yacht complete with crew, so is taken aback to discover that the Dulcibella is tiny, strictly functional and manned only by his friend, Davies. Throwing off his initial grumpiness, Carruthers settles in to learn the art of sailing under Davies’ expert tutelage. But he soon discovers that Davies has an ulterior motive for wanting him there – Davies suspects that there’s some kind of German plot being developed along the Baltic coastline, and wants Carruthers to help him investigate...
The beginning of the book is a lot of fun, filled with self-deprecating humour as Carruthers first realises that his fashionable world can survive quite happily without him and then discovers that, rather than swanning about on a nice, clean deck in his natty sailing outfit, he’s expected to share a tiny cabin with Davies, eat off a paraffin stove, and work for his passage. He’s very likeable – the archetypal patriotic gentlemanly hero beloved of English fiction of that era. (And still beloved by this Scot today, I freely admit.) Davies is a little rougher around the edges, but is also entirely decent and honourable.
When they start to sail, the book doesn’t stint on nautical facts and terminology. My Oxford World’s Classics edition contains a glossary of terms as well as the usual informative introduction and notes, which tell a bit about Childers’ life – an intriguing story on its own account – and the literary and historical background to the book. There are also charts! Sea charts! And charts of the various coastlines. I know some people will find it a little odd, but I can’t resist a chart, map or plan in a book, so to have an abundance of them added immensely to the fun.
The story gradually takes on a more serious tone, though, once Davies reveals his suspicions. The book was first published in 1903, and I thought it casts a fascinating light on the attitudes of the British ruling classes to their counterparts in Germany at that point in time. Were we more European then than now? Perhaps. Our public service was populated with the younger sons of the lower aristocracy, all public school educated and many of them well-travelled in Europe and passably fluent in more than one language. Our Royals across Europe were all related to each other, and I imagine the same was probably true of a lot of the aristocracy. Today Germany is our friend; in my childhood, it was still perceived as our enemy; back at the time of this book, there’s a perception of it as being a kind of family member, a cousin perhaps. Not altogether surprising, given that our Royal Family is German, as was Queen Victoria’s beloved Albert (and hence all their thousands of offspring).
But Germany was growing and becoming more powerful at this time, and while Carruthers and Davies feel goodwill towards it and admire all the Kaiser is doing to advance his country, they also see it as a potential opponent in the future. There’s an odd sporting edge to this – they rather look forward to meeting Germany in war one day, as if it were some form of jousting contest fought for honour and glory. (One can’t help but hope neither of them were in Passchendaele or the Somme twelve or thirteen years later.)
The emphasis of the book is on the growth of Germany as a naval power, and it becomes ever clearer that Childers’ real purpose in writing it was to send a warning to the powers-that-be in Britain that we shouldn’t take our naval supremacy for granted, especially in the North Sea. Unfortunately, as the rather polemical message grows stronger, the entertainment side of it gets somewhat sidelined, and I didn’t enjoy the second half quite as much as the first. Childers goes into far more detail on the potential naval threat and how Germany might use this bit of coastline to launch a future attack on Britain than makes for a good adventure story – at points it feels more like a report to the Foreign Office. And, since his purpose was to warn of a growing threat, it couldn’t have the kind of enemies-destroyed-rip-roaring-success-hurrah-for-good-old-England ending that this type of novel normally goes for.
However, there is plenty of adventure along the way, danger and derring-do, and a rather understated (and unnecessary) romance element, which the introduction informs me was more or less forced on Childers by his publishers. All-in-all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Carruthers’ development from fashionable young man-about-town to patriotic amateur spy, and the intriguing look at the British-German relationship of the time more than made up for the shortcomings of the adventure story in the second half. This one undoubtedly deserves it status as a classic of espionage fiction. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Oxford World’s Classics.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
June 27, 2023
3.5 stars
This is an action… maybe; but with less action than most action stories. This is an espionage thriller … kinda; but without any thrill? It is a spy book though. That is accurate. In fact, it’s so full of the finite details of what a spy in this era would need to know, that I’m pretty certain this “fiction” was really a text book written for the English War Department to ready them for World War I. I mean, outlined German railroad time tables, charts of Northern Germany’s inlets and islands described in detail - not exactly what you’d say are items that move a story along, but certainly incredibly helpful things to include in a textbook. And according to sources, this little book did help England see some easy targets for invasion and so fortified their borders. So there you go! Someone in the War Department thought to commission an author to make the textbook reading more fun for the guys! And then it somehow got mixed in with fictions at a bookstore along the way. 😜
All kidding aside, I did enjoy the book even though at times it was a little more detailed than I wanted. The writing was superb and aspects of the tale reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes stories, which I love! It felt somewhat mysterious and eerie from the beginning, which made it fun, because I had no clue where the story was going. And I thought the wrap up at the end was satisfying!
I’d definitely recommend you giving this a go!
Ages: 14+
#England #Germany #pre-WWI
Cleanliness: blasphemy is spoken a number of times. I think d*mn was used once or twice. Drinking and someone drunk. Mentions a suicide.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
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This is an action… maybe; but with less action than most action stories. This is an espionage thriller … kinda; but without any thrill? It is a spy book though. That is accurate. In fact, it’s so full of the finite details of what a spy in this era would need to know, that I’m pretty certain this “fiction” was really a text book written for the English War Department to ready them for World War I. I mean, outlined German railroad time tables, charts of Northern Germany’s inlets and islands described in detail - not exactly what you’d say are items that move a story along, but certainly incredibly helpful things to include in a textbook. And according to sources, this little book did help England see some easy targets for invasion and so fortified their borders. So there you go! Someone in the War Department thought to commission an author to make the textbook reading more fun for the guys! And then it somehow got mixed in with fictions at a bookstore along the way. 😜
All kidding aside, I did enjoy the book even though at times it was a little more detailed than I wanted. The writing was superb and aspects of the tale reminded me of the Sherlock Holmes stories, which I love! It felt somewhat mysterious and eerie from the beginning, which made it fun, because I had no clue where the story was going. And I thought the wrap up at the end was satisfying!
I’d definitely recommend you giving this a go!
Ages: 14+
#England #Germany #pre-WWI
Cleanliness: blasphemy is spoken a number of times. I think d*mn was used once or twice. Drinking and someone drunk. Mentions a suicide.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide a Cleanliness Report, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
So Follow or Friend me here on GoodReads! And be sure to check out my bio page to learn a little about me and the Picture Book/Chapter Book Calendars I sell on Etsy!
May 12, 2016
This is one of those books where you don't want the plot to unravel too quickly because you are enjoying the journey so much.
When a competent seaman with frustrated Naval aspirations stumbles across suspicious German activity on the Friesian coast, he invites his German speaking friend, a sophisticated but minor civil servant to help him investigate under the pretext of a shooting holiday. The bored city gent 'Carruthers' accepts and discovers the multiple challenges of impromptu, amateur espionage is the fillip that they both need to blow away the doldrums and awaken the yearning for patriotism, romance and adventure.
A great little book; A fore runner of more well known C20th spy novels, written with just the right mix of tempo and tension to keep you reading. It is a story well told by a complex believable character, full of descriptive, occasionally poetic, prose. It is also, I suspect, written with more than a little autobiographical detail and, like George Orwell, by a man with insight and talent enough to read the signs of his times; So much so that it was influential in changing British naval and military policy! German imperial aspirations and plans of military aggression as early as 1903 indeed?!
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