Halfhyde And The Chain Gangs

Halfhyde Adventure #12

by Philip McCutchan, David Tarkenter (Reader)

Murder and chicanery involving a consignment of gold bullion stalk St Vincent Halfhyde as he takes the square-rigged ship Glen Hallandale on govenment service from Devonport dockyard to Cape Town. His "cargo" consists of a large draft of convicts from Dartmoor Prison, volunteers for the fight against the Boers in South Africa - volunteers who travel in chain gangs and under strong escort or armed warders in Halfhyde's hastily converted holds. The voyage proves a turbulent one through bad weather and the temper-inflaming heat and stickiness of the Doldrums. Vicious fighting develops when a party from a mysterious steam yacht attempts to board the Glen Hallandale and seeks to make contact with a gentleman convict. Conditions in the hold are appalling and the chain gangs are stirred to riot by their murderous ringleaders.

Genres: Historical Fiction

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

aka Robert Conington Galway, Duncan MacNeil

Philip McCutchan (1920-1996) grew up in the naval atmosphere of Portsmouth Dockyard and developed a lifetime's interest in the sea. Military history was an early interest resulting in several fiction books, from amongst his large output, about the British Army and its campaigns, especially in the last 150 years.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up from a free little library in my Fort Worth neighborhood. A good lil interesting read, we love a british naval novel with some drama in the plot

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halfhyde & the Chain Gangs started to pick up some of the fire that I felt was missing from The Halfhyde Line. For me, it gets a little boring to constantly have the main protagonist in captivity. In this case, McCutchan picked up a little steam by putting our hero in another "no win" situation vis-a-vis his commission in the naval reserve. The Admiralty insisted that Halfhyde take a cargo of convicts from Liverpool to South Africa to enlist in the army in fighting the Boer War. The catch was that the trip had to be undertaken in a sailing vessel and the double-whammy was that there was some hanky-panky about some gold bullion to be taken as "unofficial" cargo (ie. contraband).

After narrowly missing a hangman's noose for transporting rifles to the Irish patriots under duress(er...I believe the English writer called them traitors in The Halfhyde Line, but he's a good enough writer that I allow him to be wrong), Halfhyde believes the last thing is needs is a questionable cargo, but his contact in the Foreign Service insists that he take on the cargo as a means of entrapping certain shady interests. Halfhyde is skeptical, but takes on the cargo as his duty. How he takes on the cargo and what becomes of it provides some of the suspense for the book. Whether he can trust his contact or certain other officials in government provides some additional suspense.

Of course, anyone who can read the title to this book and not know that there is likely to be a problem with the convicts after they set sail is probably not smart enough to be reading even this short review. As usual, McCutchan lays a firm foundation in foreshadowing for the mischief that ensues. Unfortunately, it felt like it took too long to unveil. In fact, since Halfhyde Goes to War follows right on the heels of this book in terms of the fictional chronology, it is my personal opinion that the two books would have been better paced if they had been combined. Still, for anyone who enjoys this series, Halfhyde and the Chain Gangs gives a clear signal that (if it ever was off-course) the series is clearly back on course.