Drawing on his own experience as a merchant seaman, Russell gives us the fictionalized narrative of one Paul Rodney who found an icebound vessel in the South Atlantic, while captaining a pirate ship. Russell has been hailed as the pre-eminent English writer of his ilk, compared to such American writers as Melville and Dana. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

Drawing on his own experience as a merchant seaman, Russell gives us the fictionalized narrative of one Paul Rodney who found an icebound vessel in the South Atlantic, while captaining a pirate ship. Russell has been hailed as the pre-eminent English writer of his ilk, compared to such American writers as Melville and Dana. - Summary by Lynne Thompson