I'm not sure I'd ever have read The Dark Frigate if I hadn't found a copy among my late brother's things; my sister-in-law was clearing out their house in preparation for a move, and knowing my love of things nautical, she pointed out the Charles Boardman Hawes classic, so I took it home. I didn't read it for five years or so, although in the meantime I had reconnected with my brother by re-reading some Louis L'Amour westerns that we'd enjoyed together in our youth.

Well, I finally picked it up. It's not a terribly lengthy read -- my 1971 edition of the 1923 novel is 246 pages. If anything, it's the old-fashioned subtitle that's long: "Wherein is told the story of Philip Marsham who lived in the time of King Charles and was bred a sailor but came home to England after many hazards by sea and land and fought for the King at Newbury and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados in the same ship, by curious chance, in which he had long before adventured with the pirates."

Whew!

Actually, although it sounds like the subtitle gives away most of the plot, in fact it does not; most of the novel takes place between the phrases "was bred a sailor" and "came home to England after many hazards." The only spoiler there is that he comes home, but being the protagonist, you probably assumed that anyway.

Philip is a young man of 19 years, convalescing at his father's shrewish fiancee's tavern after an illness, when word comes of his father's death at sea. After a mishap sends him running from the innkeeper's anger, he decides to become a farmer and sets off for an inland setting, having several minor adventures and misadventures on his journey, before falling in with an unlikely pair of men who persuade him to go back to sea.

He sets out from Bideford as a crewman on the merchant ship Rose of Devon, but his skill and seamanship catch the eye of the captain, and Philip quickly finds himself promoted to boatswain. His good fortune isn't to last, however; the ship is seized by mutinous pirates, led by one of Philip's erstwhile companions on the road, and soon Philip has no choice but to serve a new, bloodier captain, Tom Jordan, aka the Old One.

How far will Philip go to preserve his own life without crossing the line into piracy himself? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out.

The book, which won the 1924 Newbery Medal, is listed as a children's novel. While it compares in some ways to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, I'm not sure if many young readers today would enjoy the formal, stylized language of the book's narrative and dialogue. And it's certainly not as action-packed or exciting as the nautical tales I usually read.

Even so, it's a fun romp of a tale, and anyone who enjoys the adventures of Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver will likely relish their voyage with Philip Marsham and the Old One. Thanks, John.