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Gurney\'s Revenge
This is by Sam Llewellyn , who is best known for yachting thrillers such as 'Deadeye' - but this is an O'Brien type yarn involving a young promising but now disgraced navy officer who is framed as a card sharp by the corrupt slave-trading guardian of his beloved.
Gurney takes ship for the far East in search of revenge. Captured in the Mediterranean by Turkish brigands, he escapes from a desert-traversing slave coffle by taking advantage of a skirmish with brigands to plummet over a cliff into a river where he is rescued by a fakir/wise man/rogue who is taking a raft full of sheep down the rapids of the Tigris to the sea.
Becoming wise in the ways of the orient and teaming up with the mystic raft skipper Basreddin, our hero takes ship on a dodgy pearler down the horn of Africa. During a refreshement stop in a dubious port the crew are all killed except for Gurney and Basreddin. Now with their own ship, they are nevertheless captured again by fiendish savages and find themselves in dire circumstances. However, with remarkable resourcefullness they escape again and manage to aquire a better, faster vessel. Making their way to Hong Kong they happily acquire a cargo of prime mud (opium) which is used to fund a cunning and total destruction of Gurney's persecutor.
One of the rippingest yarns I have read in a long time, and the first in a trilogy apparently.
- Nick
This is by Sam Llewellyn , who is best known for yachting thrillers such as 'Deadeye' - but this is an O'Brien type yarn involving a young promising but now disgraced navy officer who is framed as a card sharp by the corrupt slave-trading guardian of his beloved.
Gurney takes ship for the far East in search of revenge. Captured in the Mediterranean by Turkish brigands, he escapes from a desert-traversing slave coffle by taking advantage of a skirmish with brigands to plummet over a cliff into a river where he is rescued by a fakir/wise man/rogue who is taking a raft full of sheep down the rapids of the Tigris to the sea.
Becoming wise in the ways of the orient and teaming up with the mystic raft skipper Basreddin, our hero takes ship on a dodgy pearler down the horn of Africa. During a refreshement stop in a dubious port the crew are all killed except for Gurney and Basreddin. Now with their own ship, they are nevertheless captured again by fiendish savages and find themselves in dire circumstances. However, with remarkable resourcefullness they escape again and manage to aquire a better, faster vessel. Making their way to Hong Kong they happily acquire a cargo of prime mud (opium) which is used to fund a cunning and total destruction of Gurney's persecutor.
One of the rippingest yarns I have read in a long time, and the first in a trilogy apparently.
- Nick
