The Outer Buoy: A Story of the Ultimate Voyage

by Jan de Hartog

The sea captain is now retired, but adventure is still in his blood. The taste for excitement and the lure of the unknown have led Harinxma to crisscross the face of the earth many times, and they now draw him toward the only frontier left to him. With several of his old shipmates - all of them reaching the final years of their varied lives - Harinxma joins in NASA's exploration of the mysterious effects of space travel on the human soul.

243 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Jan de Hartog (1914 – 2002) was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker. From then on he wrote in English.
At the beginning of his career he wrote five detective novels about the adventures of Commissioner Wiebe Poesiat and inspector Gregor Boyarski at the metropolitan harbor police under the pseudonym F.R. Eckmar

Johannes (Jan) de Hartog was een Nederlandse schrijver van romans, toneelstukken en filmscenario's, vooral gekend om zijn romans over de scheepvaart.
In het begin van zijn carrière schreef hij, onder het pseudoniem F.R. Eckmar, ook een vijftal detectieveromans over de avonturen van commissaris Wiebe Poesiat en inspecteur Gregor Boyarski bij de hoofdstedelijke havenpolitie.

Reviews

[Marty Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits differently than I when I read it as a young man of 36. I'd served in the Navy and a book like this, combining an old sailor and science fiction, seemed perfect for me. I read the book and was moved by it enough to retain it for all these decades. Recently I'd run out of books to read and thus I dipped into my bookcases to see what books waited there for me and decided to re-read The Outer Buoy.

Most of the commodore's memories and attitudes are from a distant time and they seem at times to be quite antiquated. But that seemed to serve the book well, as the commodore himself often realizes that those days are long gone and only his memories remain.

The book moves you toward the ultimate destination and upon arrival I found myself weeping. At this age I'm well acquainted with the loss of loved ones and the feeling that time is indeed running out. The commodore wrestles with all of his infirmities, yet is motivated by an old friend, the only one who is left who truly understands him, to press on and move forward even though the course plotted is an extra-worldly one.

[Bruce Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book. Held my interest almost all the way thru. I'll have to find more by this author.