The Cruise of the 'Alerte'

The Mariners Library #21

by Edward Frederick Knight

These adventurers started full of hope, but were doomed to disappointment, as is shown in the following extract which I cut from a daily paper some months — 'Further information has been received regarding the unfortunate expedition of the "Aurea," the vessel chartered by a number of Tynesiders for a voyage to the small island of Trinidad, off the coast of Brazil, where it was reported a large amount of treasure was concealed. The last letter is from one of the seamen, a young man named Russell, to his parents in North Shields. Russell states that it is with "the greatest pleasure" that he has an opportunity of writing, and continues to say that the "Aurea" left the island on April 29, and, he was sure, the crew were not sorry at leaving.

194 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jeffrey]

Knight writes an engaging travelogue of his cruise from England to an island named Trinidad in 1889 in search of buried treasure. He starts the narrative in the Fall of 1888, leaves Southampton in late August 1889 and manages to return in February 1890 (whether successful or not, I won't disclose).

He includes all the important details for such a trip as this and one gets the impression that following his steps of preparation, his packing lists and his timeline, a successful voyage could be made today.

As a sailor, I particularly appreciate Knight's ability to depict the sea, the islands, his moorings and the various difficulties encountered and how their little yacht was handled through them.

While in the middle of this book, I was astounded by the similarities to Peter Duck and others from the Ransome series and will have more to say about that later.

I've rated this book two of five stars mostly because you've got to be a certain type of reader to get through Knight's writings. This is not an armchair expedition but a synopsis of the Alerte's logs and as a consequence, may be a bit dry to some readers.

[Danny]

Read this on the plane to and from home for Thanksgiving and oh gosh it put travel into perspective. I found it a thrilling piece of adventure writing, yet I wouldn't recommend it as there is not much of plot besides the hunt for treasure. It was more of a captains log turned pseudo-narrative, which I appreciated.

[Erik Empson]

Pure delight for a treasure seeking landlubber born in the wrong century.