"Where Angels Fear To Tread", And Other Tales Of The Sea

by Morgan Robertson

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Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 15, 2008

About the author

Morgan Andrew Robertson (1861 - 1915) was an American author of short stories and novels, as well as the self-proclaimed inventor of the periscope.

He is best remembered today as the author of Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan , an 1898 disaster novel noted for its similarities to the sinking of RMS Titanic fourteen years later.

Reviews

[Brett Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprised of short stories, summarized below for my memory. This series of stories suffers in a similar way to Moby Dick in that much of the detail of what's happening on these ships is reduced to unreadable gibberish in the hands of the non-sailor. It is unfortunate because some of the stories here are remarkable, but would have delivered much stronger if it wasn't for havignoretrudge through literal paragraphs of ship talk, describing actions taken on pieces of ship or ship equipment that I couldn't even hope to guess. Stories from this age, so far removed from contemporary (125 years old in this case) reveal interesting items of the times. For example moonlight causing blindness in one story.

Where angels fear to tread
Great origin story for captains and .. kind of pirates? Shows the folly of overconfidence, arrogance, and showmanship.

Brain of the battleship- cool war story, man saves the crew

Wigwag message - dumb Shanghai story. Dont get it the point of the story. Guys get shanghai'd but turns out they are navy men and could haul another vessel down to rescue them. Why?

Trade wind. Men become blind while sleeping ok deck. A traitor in their midst. Interesting premise, don't really see the point tho

Salvage- a story of biting off more than you can chew, arrogance, and greed

Between the milestones- a historically unlucky man joins the navy, is marooned on an island, rides a torpedo back into the ocean, blows up a ship, and becomes rich off the Salvage

Monsters- i skipped entirely after the first two pages, describing a disease inside the body as if it was a naval battle. Didn't hit for me.

From the royal yards down-
interesting perspective, maybe one never done before at the time, much of the story takes place while the lead is falling. The rest ends up being an unconscious dream sequence. Our main character works up courage based on a fantasy

Needs must when devil drives
Trouble following this story. Too many boat words and detail I can't follow. But seems it's a boat swapping heist situation. Fun but too much boat talk. Very mobu dick sequence

When Greek meets Greek
Fun very short story of mean people getting a dose of their own medicine. Texans Shanghaied, which I've come to learn means forcefully pressed into boat service,take the boat over at gunpoint and embarrass the officers and captian and make them back to port

Primordial
Story of a shipwrecked child who grows up without human influence, animal-like. A bit bland compared to contemporary stories of similar nature (lord of flies is much more robust and interesting). But again, perhaps this is the first instance of such a premise being written about