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Hammond Innes (1913–1998)

Author of The Wreck of the Mary Deare

68+ Works 5,598 Members 115 Reviews 7 Favorited

About the Author

Author Ralph Hammond Innes was born in Horsham, England on July 15, 1914. He attended Cranbrook School in Kent, but left in 1931 to work as a journalist. He published his first novel, The Doppelganger, in 1937. During World War II, he served in the Royal Artillery and published a number of books. show more In 1946, he became a full-time writer and wrote over thirty novels, children's books, and travel books throughout his career. He published children's books under the pseudonym Ralph Hammond until 1953. Four of his novels were made into films. He was awarded a C.B.E. (Commander, Order of the British Empire) in 1978 and received the Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement award in 1993. He died on June 10, 1998 and left a bulk of his estate to the Assoication of Sea Training Organisations. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Hammond Innes

The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1956) 465 copies
The Land God Gave to Cain (1958) 247 copies
Atlantic Fury (1962) 233 copies
The Doomed Oasis (1960) 232 copies
Levkas Man (1971) 223 copies
Campbell's Kingdom (1952) 218 copies
The White South (1949) 211 copies
Maddon's Rock (1947) 190 copies
The Strode Venturer (1965) 186 copies
Golden Soak (1973) 184 copies
Wreckers Must Breathe (1940) 183 copies
The Lonely Skier (1947) 176 copies
North Star (1974) 171 copies
Air Bridge (1951) 169 copies
The Blue Ice (1948) 164 copies
The Conquistadors (1969) 164 copies
The Big Footprints (1977) 163 copies
The Killer Mine (1600) 157 copies
The Black Tide (1982) 155 copies
The Strange Land (1954) 155 copies
Solomons Seal (1980) 147 copies
The Angry Mountain (1950) 146 copies
Medusa (1988) 143 copies
The Trojan Horse (1940) 138 copies
High Stand (1985) 134 copies
Isvik (1991) 132 copies
Attack Alarm (1941) 96 copies
Scandinavia (1963) 87 copies
Dead and Alive (1946) 84 copies
Target Antarctica (1993) 58 copies
Sea and Islands (1967) 51 copies
Harvest of Journeys (1960) 48 copies
Delta Connection (1996) 37 copies
Hammond Innes' East Anglia (1986) 14 copies
Medusa | The Doomed Oasis (2003) 14 copies
Saracen's Tower (1952) 11 copies
Cocos Gold (1963) 10 copies
Air Disaster 2 copies
The Black Ice. (1982) 1 copy

Associated Works

The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories (2007) — Contributor — 133 copies
65 Great Tales of the Supernatural (1979) — Contributor — 59 copies
Tales of Old Inns (1929) — Editor, some editions — 24 copies
Sea Tales of Terror (1974) — Contributor — 22 copies
The Ghost's Companion (1975) — Contributor — 15 copies
Escape Stories (1980) — Contributor — 9 copies
The Wreck of the Mary Deare [1959 film] — Original novel — 8 copies
Roving Commissions 2 (1962) — Contributor — 2 copies
Hell Below Zero [1954 film] — Original novel — 1 copy

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Common Knowledge

Legal name
Hammond Innes, Ralph
Other names
Hammond, Ralph
Birthdate
1913-07-15
Date of death
1998-06-10
Gender
male
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Horsham, Sussex, England, UK
Place of death
Kersey, Suffolk, England, UK
Places of residence
England, UK
Education
Cranbrook School
Occupations
novelist
screenwriter
teacher
journalist
historical novelist
children's book author
Relationships
Hammond Innes, Dorothy (wife)
Organizations
Financial Times(Financial News)
British Army(Royal Artillery)
Association of Sea Training Organisations
Awards and honors
Commander of the Order of the British Empire ([1978])
Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)
Short biography
Ralph Hammond Innes was an only child in an English family of Scottish descent. He started writing as a child. He graduated from the Cranbrook School, Kent, in 1931, but instead of following his father into the banking profession, he chose journalism. In 1937, he married Dorothy Mary Lang, an actress and a relative of Sir Walter Scott and Andew Lang. That same year, he published his first novel, The Doppelganger. Wreckers Must Breathe and The Trojan Horse came out in 1940. At the start of World War II, Innes volunteered for the armed forces. He served in the Royal Artillery and rose to the rank of major. In 1941, he published a war novel, Attack Alarm, which was the only story of the Battle of Britain written on a gunside under fire. He continued to write during the war, and his books were serialized in the USA in the Saturday Evening Post. After the war, he became a full-time writer and one of the most popular thriller writers in the English language. Until 1953, he also published children's books under the pseudonym Ralph Hammond. Maddon's Rock (1948) dealt with Innes's favorite element, the sea, as did The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1956). Many of Innes's travel pieces appeared in the American magazine Holiday. A collection, Harvest of Journeys, came out in 1960. It was followed in 1967 by Sea and Islands. His wife described their trips in her book Occasions (1972), using the pen name Dorothy Hammond Innes. Innes bought a 42-foot ocean racer named Mary Deare with the money he made selling the rights of his novel to MGM, and the couple sailed the coast of Europe from the Baltic to the Bay of Biscay. His historical works included The Conquistadors (1969) and The Last Voyage (1978), a fictionalized account of Captain Cook's voyage. His final novel, Delta Connection (1996), included all the familiar elements of a Hammond Innes book: daring escapes, cliffhanging situations, and overpowering forces of nature. His works were translated into more than 30 languages and several were adapted into films or mini-series for the BBC. Innes served as vice-president of the Association of Sea Training Organisations. He was made a C.B.E. in 1978, and shared a 1993 Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement award, given at the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, with Ralph McInerny.

Members

Discussions

What a powerful story - South Sea Bubble in Hammond Innes Forum (February 2014)

Reviews

Not a particularly interesting plot or characters, but what I appreciated about it was the early (and probably directionally accurate) observations of the mining construction boom in the interior of Labrador. The island had only been surveyed a few years prior to this book, so it says something impressive about Innes that he toured it and wrote about it with so much detail.
½
 
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adamhindman | 2 other reviews | Feb 5, 2024 |
This book came to me because I went sailing in the Ionian, and the pilot's guide mentions it is set in the area around the Meganisi Strait. At times I found it a little slow and ponderous, and it is hard to find any of the characters likable. The main character is on the run from having killed a man, and is content to do what he has to to survive. As the book goes on, his attempts at a little light smuggling to make some money get strangely tangled up in his father's academic passions and politics, as he sails around the Greek Islands.

The climax of the book is a dark scene where he rediscovers his father, who has both finally found the painted cave he has searched for all his life, and brutally murdered his academic rival. It is true that his father basically wishes to be left to die in the cave, but my gut naive reaction is that this is ridiculous, he still has his diving gear, surely he could go back with some water, or some food, or... but this is not that book. This book is Man the Hunter, Man the Killer, war coming from the middle east, and everyone aware of the darkness gathering.

The Evil Academic has the uncomfortable back story of being a self made man, an errand boy from Bradford who had volunteered at the library, got into grammar school, and made it to university. It was hard to know what to take from this, whether it was a deep and uncomfortable 'all self made men are liars and cheats and will steal and plagiarise' political position, or just some flavour text that didn't go anywhere. And Paul's father at times seems much more committed to revenge than to actually chasing pure scientific truth and sharing it.

Ugh. A dark book in the grey spaces of life, full of people hurting people, the threat of communist spies, obsession and jealousy and lies and secrets. It has some truly compelling passages (I still shiver when I think of the torchlight playing over the giant bulls on the roof of the long lost cave, blood red) and it is good to read outside my comfort zone, but it's a cold dark place and I would rather be somewhere warmer for a little while.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
atreic | 3 other reviews | Nov 24, 2023 |
Enjoyable Hammond Innes thriller sets in London, Maldives and at sea. Underwater volcanoes create an island which is claimed by Maldives. Good stuff
 
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cbinstead | 4 other reviews | Apr 2, 2023 |
Thoroughly enjoyable and exciting thriller set - and written - in what was early WW2. Authentic feel. Great chase through the London sewers and a real feel for London docklands as it was...
 
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cbinstead | 3 other reviews | Jan 23, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
68
Also by
30
Members
5,598
Popularity
#4,438
Rating
½ 3.6
Reviews
115
ISBNs
626
Languages
15
Favorited
7

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