“The Guardship” by James Nelson

I admit to theft … of a minor sort, from the library of a vessel I was sailing on … but it’s a good book! I started reading it to pass the time, historical nautical fiction being my preference in most literature. But I couldn’t finish it before the passage was finished, so it found its way into my seabag. I subsequently returned the book so am not a complete thief and bought my own to add to my collection because I liked it so much. The Guardship by James Nelson is a really well-done example of the genre and I found the author to be both knowledgeable about the topic and a writer of some skill.

With some notable exceptions, I find a lot of the nautical fiction to be written by people that aren’t well versed in traditional sailing. James Nelson is one of the notable exceptions, having sailed aboard tall ships for some time before settling back in Maine as a writer. When he writes of sailing, shipboard routine and the various parts of a tall ship, he does so with confidence and knowledge. Additionally, his writing shows a grasp of prose that is both approachable and descriptive in a literary way that I admire. As an example, this passage from Chapter 25:

“LeRois pressed the telescope to his eye, watched the river sloop for as long as he could. The image began as a complete thing, one single sloop, and then began to shimmy and divide, until there were two distinct, overlapping vessels, though neither had quite the substance of a solid object. He lowered the glass and shook his head hard, and then, happily, there was one sloop again.”

I love the phrasing of this passage, the literary allusion to perception and the very real difficulty in making sense of what is before you at sea. Having looked through binoculars trying to find the entrance mark to a channel, I understand immediately what this looks like. But even having never seen similar things at sea, I would know from the description what it looks like.

Additionally, the development in the main character, Thomas Marlowe, and secondary characters like Bickerstaff or King James, is just phenomenal. The romantic interest, Elizabeth Tinling, is also well done. These are unusually well-rounded characters, with enough of the back story to understand their motivations and desires.

This is a narrative driven book, rather than dialogue driven, which is again uncommon in modern nautical fiction. The pace though remains quick and believable. I loved it and would highly recommend it!