Brian Callison

Funny lines are fairly common in thrillers, but novels that are both thrilling and comic are few and far between. This is one of the rare examples of that difficult balancing act. Miller, an amiable but conventional naval officer, finds himself assigned to the most disreputable tramp steamer in WWII Malta, as part of a Royal Navy scheme to confound the Germans. The crew, he quickly discovers, is of a piece with the ship: the bos'un is nearly blind, the mate is a borderline psychopath, and show more the captain seems to have stepped out of a pirate movie. Callison deploys these cartoonish characters to great comic effect, all the while keeping a respectable thriller plot chugging along. show less

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/a-ship-is-dying-by-brian-callison/

I had read this when I was 19 and living in Germany, and was moved to search it out again a few years ago – but then did not get around to reading it; it was the non-genre fiction book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves. It’s a vivid and succinct account of the sinking of a cargo ship in a storm on the North Sea, as the result of a collision with an uncrewed barge. The writer takes us inside the heads of many show more of the crew as catastrophe hits them hard and swiftly. I remembered several of the most striking images very clearly from thirty-five years ago. No women, of course, and a rather dodgy portrayal of the one Chinese crewman (though that is somewhat subverted at the end). But the big picture is very memorably done. show less

Amazing story of a ship found on an uninhabited island 25 years after the incident, and the captain reading the story which had been written by the survivor. Taut, exciting, gripping. First read it about 35 years ago and always remembered it as an excellent read. Second time around it did not disappoint!

This was one tense read! An ocean-going salvage tub receives a Mayday call and rushes to the aid of the doomed ship. On arriving at the co-ordinates they realize that the Mayday call was sent hours before the ship hits the rocks and runs aground. Damaged ships, danger, murder, storms... excitement. A "can't put the book down" read....