Charles Boardman HawesBesprekingen

In seventeenth century England, a terrible accident forces orphaned Philip Marsham to flee London in fear for his life. Bred to the sea, he signs on with the Rose of Devon, a dark frigate bound for the quiet shores of Newfoundland.

Philip's bold spirit and knowledge of the sea soon win him his captain's regard. But when the Rose of Devon is seized in midocean by a devious group of men plucked from a floating wreck, Philip is forced to accompany these gentlemen of fortune on their murderous expeditions. Like it or not, Philip Marsham is now a pirate--with only the hangman awaiting his return to England.

With its bloody battles, brutal buccaneers, and bold, spirited hero, this rousing tale will enthrall young listeners in search of seafaring adventure.

This story has been described as kind of like Treasure Island, but I thought it went beyond that classic tale, with plenty of nautical jargon and historical references to flesh this out into an interesting adult read.½

It was a bit hard for me to read, language wise. I can remember trying to read this when I was a runt, and failing. If I could get a little more comfortable with the writing style, this would probably pose as a thoroughly adventurous, ‘dun dun dun’ sort of tale. I was fully invested by the end, so perhaps that’s how long it took me to adapt. I imagine with future readings my appreciation for this book will grow. (I read another book by this author that didn't have the "sea" language, and I quite enjoyed it.) So I worry that this book's trickiness to read gives it some undeserved wrath. Stick with it, and the tale actually gets fairly compelling.

This book has a lot of intrigue and a sense of adventure. Charles Hawes really has “adventure” going for his writing. I feel like I can’t use that word enough.
However… this issue here is the hovering sense of racism. Although our heroes are unwittingly tricked into partaking in the slave trade, and disapprove, their main foe is “the blacks”. And considering what the main characters are doing in Africa, it’s hard to view the Africans as much of a villain. Africans attack and kill and provide a sense of danger, but there’s no real moral security in who you want to triumph. The attacks were written well (adventure!) but I wasn’t really on the side of our “heroes”. It is played out so there’s blackmail and the narrator is young and just trying to protect his uncle, etc… but that doesn’t make one believe the Africans are in the wrong. There were indeed internal villains in the group, and that was much more satisfying.
Overall, I enjoyed it. It toes the line, but it’s a decent, yeah, adventure.

From my earliest days, I have had a taste for science fiction. To me, adventure equaled hopping in one's spaceship and blasting off for distant worlds. As I grew older and became aware of other genres of fiction, I gained a vague awareness that the plot of a typical space opera could easily be rewritten--to fit another genre, to be set in the Wild West or on the open seas. I never had an interest in experiencing those other genres, however. The few snatches of westerns or pirate swashbucklers I saw on television never made me hungry for a different taste. I have now learned that maybe I just needed to experience a good story in one of those other genres. The Dark Frigate is a pirate story. It's the tale of Philip Marsham, a young man born and bred to the sea. Left on his own when his father is lost at sea, Philip sets out to seek his fortune. After wandering a bit inland he is drawn to the sailor's life and ships out on The Rose of Devon. Unfortunately, the ship encounters a band of pirates and circumstances force Philip to sail with them. It's a great book. Mr. Hawes made the entire world come alive, so much so that I had to adapt my thinking to the archaic language used by the characters. Conversely, I had no problem picturing scene after scene in my mind as I read it. It's sold as a book for young adults, but I found the story and characters to be quite grown up. We bought the book for my daughter's schooling and, given her tastes, she may not like this one. If that's so, I'll be glad to take this tome off her hands and put it on my own shelf.
--J.½

This one might be tough for today's young readers with old English vernacular but is still a thrilling story of the high seas!

One of five titles chosen - along with Cedric the Forester, The Windy Hill, The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, and The Old Tobacco Shop - as a Newbery Honor Book in 1922, the first year the award was given out, The Great Quest is the first of two award-winning seafaring yarns from Charles Boardman Hawes, the second being the 1924 Newbery Medal winner, The Dark Frigate.

Opening in 1826, in the small New England village of Topham, it details the adventures of Josiah Woods, a young man who lives with, and works for, his Uncle Seth Upham, the local shopkeeper. When the strangely charismatic Cornelius Gleazen - Topham's disgraced prodigal son - returns to the home of his fathers, it soon becomes apparent that he has some sort of hold over Joe's brusque uncle, whose behavior becomes decidedly erratic. But although Joe observes his uncle with some concern, nothing prepares him for the revelation that Seth Upham had invested all his funds, everything that is to be Joe's inheritance, in a sea voyage to Africa. Setting out with his uncle, two of his uncle's assistants, Arnold Lamont and Simeon Muzzy, local farmer Abe Guptil, and Cornelius Gleazen himself, Joe is soon embarked on a dangerous journey that will take him from Boston to Havana, and thence to the coast of Guinea.

I began The Great Quest this past November (2009), reading online through books.google, as I was unable to obtain a copy through my library system, but although Hawes' story is not entirely without merit - some of his descriptive passages are quite atmospheric - I found it difficult to get through the book. In fact, I had all but abandoned it, until a snow day yesterday gave me the opportunity of finally finishing it. I'm happy to be done with it, to be frank, and don't really recommend it, unless you are (like me) determined to read the entire corpus of Newbery titles, both medal-winners and honor books.

Although Hawes is clearly not painting a positive portrait of the slave trade, or those who engaged in it - Cornelius Gleazen, Molly Matterson, Bud O'Hara, and all the others involved in this most detestable business, are clearly the villains of the piece - there is still a great deal of racism in the story, making it a rather ugly document of previous generations' idea of the world. As Joe and his companions - both friendly and hostile - flee across the African landscape, the language used to discuss their pursuers made me cringe. Joe considers the natives "superstitious" and ignorant, because they fear guns, but somehow also "cowardly," for attacking a smaller group. Reading along, I found myself thinking, "So they're cowardly for attacking a group possessing weapons they fear? Hmm..."

The "bad" guys make constant use of the term "n*gger," while the "good" guys may opt for the more polite "negro," but despite their differences, as Joe observes at one point, they all "at least" had white skin! I was conscious of an acute sense of disgust, while reading the second half of The Great Quest, a sensation that reached its zenith with Joe's analysis of black warfare, and the possible correlation this might have to the enslavement of Africans:

"I wonder if the whole performance to which we owed our lives was not characteristic of the natives of the African coast? If therein did not lie just the difference between a people so easily led into slavery and a people that never, whatever their weaknesses have been, have yielded to their oppressors? It all happened long ago, and it was my only acquaintance with black warfare; but surely we could never thus have thrown American Indians off the scent."

At this point in the narrative, having put up with "innocent" Americans being "accidentally" led into slaving voyages; having encountered "savage" blacks with a strange resentment of the European pillagers of their land, the murderers and enslavers of countless scores of their people; and having read this astonishing "blame the victim" explanation of slavery - lack of centralized organization is surely a sign that a people is more fit for slavery - I would have been very happy if the entire party HAD been caught by the natives. Sadly, it was not to be...

Spare yourself the grief, and skip The Great Quest. Unless you're a children's literature scholar, investigating the history of this particular kind of adventure-story for boys, or someone who is bound and determined to read all the Newbery books, you can definitely do without it!

The Dark Frigate is a pirate adventure set in seagoing England. Its Shakespearean language might challenge young readers, and even mature readers should keep Merriam-Webster within reach of this book. The book's author, Charles Boadman Hawes, received his Newbery Medal posthumously, as he died in 1923; he also won the Newbery honor award for The Great Quest (1922), grew up as a seaman, and added detailed research and firsthand accounts to preserve the authenticity of his book's portrayal of 13th-century seafaring life. Its attention to detail and its rhythmic, expressive language create an adventurous tale of substance. However, the rich and complex moral layering provides no easy answers—good guys often do bad things, and bad guys can also be very good people; these factors pull The Dark Frigate up to the level of great literature.

Hawes tells the story of Philip Marsham, an orphan who runs away to sea to get away from the unloving woman who takes care of him. His ship is seized by pirates and Philip is forced to join them or be killed. Eventually, the pirates are taken and Philip is brought to trial for piracy and finally exonerated. He tries to return to the various places and people in his life that he thought he wanted, but all prove disappointing and the book ends with his return to the sea.

Hawes has populated the book with many well-drawn and vivid characters, but I could never summon the necessary liking for Philip to make it all work. Some books are set up so the reader is supposed to find the protagonist unpleasant, but this wasn't one of them. However, instead of rooting for him, I found him arrogant, self-absorbed, ungrateful and generally boring.

I also had trouble with the language. Period dialect is fine in its place, but trying to parse "A wee healsome drappy an' then the guid vittle. Dinna be laithfu'." seriously detracted from what is, at heart, just an adventure story. Even the prose not spoken by characters had a stilted quality to it.

Newbery Medal or no, I cannot recommend this one.½

This is an adventure story, perfect for boys. However, modern boys might be at pains to get through it, which is a shame. The hero of this book is brave, true, and confident in his ability and worth. Well written, good plot line, and leaves the reader wanting to know more about Philip.

England is on the brink of civil war when Philip Marscham is washed up in London after his father’s death at sea. The adventurous young seafarer strikes out on his own, but soon finds himself unwittingly fallen in with a crew of vicious pirates. It's fight, die or escape, and there's little hope of escape from a ship at sea. Hawes’s colorful language and sharply drawn characters evoke the time of Charles I in this bold adventure tale.

This book is ok. Not going to rush out and read it again. It was boring most of the time. And for a pirate book it is kind of comical because the pirates are just horrible at pillaging.

http://iamagirldork.livejournal.com/8442.html

From my earliest days, I have had a taste for science fiction. To me, adventure equaled hopping in one's spaceship and blasting off for distant worlds. As I grew older and became aware of other genres of fiction, I gained a vague awareness that the plot of a typical space opera could easily be rewritten--to fit another genre, to be set in the Wild West or on the open seas. I never had an interest in experiencing those other genres, however. The few snatches of westerns or pirate swashbucklers I saw on television never made me hungry for a different taste. I have now learned that maybe I just needed to experience a good story in one of those other genres. The Dark Frigate is a pirate story. It's the tale of Philip Marsham, a young man born and bred to the sea. Left on his own when his father is lost at sea, Philip sets out to seek his fortune. After wandering a bit inland he is drawn to the sailor's life and ships out on The Rose of Devon. Unfortunately, the ship encounters a band of pirates and circumstances force Philip to sail with them. It's a great book. Mr. Hawes made the entire world come alive, so much so that I had to adapt my thinking to the archaic language used by the characters. Conversely, I had no problem picturing scene after scene in my mind as I read it. It's sold as a book for young adults, but I found the story and characters to be quite grown up. We bought the book for my daughter's schooling and, given her tastes, she may not like this one. If that's so, I'll be glad to take this tome off her hands and put it on my own shelf.
--J.

http://www.fireandsword.com/Reviews/darkfrigate.html

Charles Boardman Hawes’ tale of piracy upon the high seas in the days of King Charles is just as fresh today as when it won the Newberry Award in 1923. The Dark Frigate is an excellent work, though classed among young adult novels, it should have a lot of appeal to readers who love a good adventure and can still recall their reading tastes from when they were 13.

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Philip Marsham signed on to work on a ship. Before he had traveled far, however, pirates on the ship kill the ship’s captain and part of the crew and take the ship over. Philip has no choice but to stay on the ship and help the pirates, as much as he is able, to carry on with their plan to take over other ships. Finally Philip has an opportunity to escape from the ship onto an island, but he cannot survive long there. He finds another ship and has hope to convince the captain of this ship that he was not a willing member of the pirate crew and that he will be allowed to travel on the ship to home.