Читать онлайн "The Tattooed Man" - Pease Howard - RuLit

However, this strength of repetition and explanation in a stand-alone book was somewhat a weakness for an avid Pease fan who read over and again the same or similar descriptions, patterns, plots, and characters that often had been the base of a short story before becoming a book, or for one who avidly read a series of Pease books after discovering this author. In defense, it was seldom one would read many of the books at once, nor did the young reader care, so the repetitions and conflicts were not recognized when one read only one of the stories or read several, but over a longer period of time.

Thus a possible perceived weakness was truly a strength for most readers.

In many circles, thirteen of the twenty-two Pease books were known as the Tod Moran Mysteries. His sea stories, especially aboard the Araby with Tod Moran, Tom Jarvis, Toppy, and Swede, became maritime legends.

Books of Howard Pease

Most of the best Howard Pease books are stories of adventures on the high seas, often aboard the old tramp freighter, the Araby. The ship is commanded by Captain Tom Jarvis with loyal crew members as Toppy and Swede, but the focus is usually on Third Mate (and later Second) Tod Moran, plus a young new crew member, a different one in most books. In each they run into a mystery often involving smuggling, greed, theft, international politics, labor conditions, and even murder.

1926: The Tattooed Man

A fantastic cook adds to the excitement of Tod Moran's trip on a freighter from San Francisco to the Mediterranean.

1927: The Jinx Ship

Tod Moran ships out as a wiper on the Congo, considered by seamen to be a jinx ship, in his effort to get to San Francisco from New York via the Caribbean, with Toppy and Swede, and new friend, Bruce Harvey, all members of the engine room Black Gang.

They are entangled in the mysteries and jinxes of the Congo, adventures with voodoo in Haiti, and a fire aboard ship.

1929: Shanghai Passage

With the Araby in dry dock, Captain Tom Jarvis, oiler Tod Moran, Toppy, Swede, and new acquaintance Stuart Ormsby—who unbeknown to Jarvis has been shanghaied aboard the Nanking—sail from San Francisco to Shanghai, and become involved in smuggling and the Nationalist Guerrilla Army attempts to seize the Nanking and take over control of the government of China.

1930: The Gypsy Caravan

Written for younger youth, The Gypsy Caravan is an interesting fantasy dream where Betty, age 11, and brother Joe, age 9, join a gypsy caravan through England, France, and Austria. Along the way they have adventures involving Robin Hood, King Richard, Charlemagne, Ali Baba, Caliph of Baghdad, Roland, Aucassin and Nicolette, and the Saracens, Franks, Saxons, and Moors.

1931: Secret Cargo

Larry Matthews—with his dog Sambo—escapes the police and with the help of Bilge Murphy, secures a job on the Creole Trader bound from New Orleans with Toppy and Swede as shipmates. While trying to survive with Sambo, Larry is entrapped by his discovery of the secret cargo stowed on the Creole Trader and ensuing events aboard a schooner in the lagoon harbor of Papeete, Tahiti.

1934: The Ship Without a Crew

Based on true stories—the mystery of the Mary Celeste, and a dolphin that piloted ships into the harbor—this book relates how Tom Jarvis, Tod, Toppy, Swede, and young Stan Ridley sail on the Araby for Papeete, but along the way discover the schooner Wind-Rider, owned by Stan’s father, adrift without a crew. A hurricane, disappearance of the Wind-Rider, Stan’s missing father, and adventures in Tahiti cap the intrigue.

1935: Wind in the Rigging

Tom Jarvis, Tod Moran, with Toppy, Swede and young Steve Randolph ship on the Sumatra from New York to North Africa, with Tom and Tod again as cook and mess, to investigate smuggling on a vessel invested in by the Blakemore Company. Based upon actual Justice Department files, the intrigue takes Tod to inland Morocco to a Berber caravansary where he is seized and imprisoned in the inn of Fondouk el Sous.

1936: Hurricane Weather

Stan Ridley, who had previously shipped on the Araby and now was part of Ridley and Son in Papeete, meets Tod Moran who has arrived for a vacation on the Ridley schooner Wind-Rider, but a Dr. Latimer offers a handsome fee to charter it to go to islands south of Tahiti where the Wind-Rider is stolen, a schemer seeks forbidden pearls, a devastating hurricane hits, a mystery man is discovered, and a schooner is wrecked.

1937: Foghorns

Waiting to load and sail the Araby from San Francisco to New Orleans, Tom Jarvis, Tod Moran, Toppy, Swede, and young Greg Richards find themselves blanketed in a thick “pea-soup” fog, with a threatened waterfront strike by disgruntled union workers, fire aboard the Araby, mysterious coded messages, and sinister efforts to drive the Blakemore Steamship Company out of business.

1938: Jungle River

Don Carter arrives at Port Moresby, New Guinea, to assist his geological exploration expert father with a mission up the Fly River. His father is not there; rumors from natives say that a seaplane crashed on a lake far to the interior. Don finally has government permission to board a schooner to search for his dad, but is handicapped by competitor company schemers, British police, and headhunter natives while he experiences life in the dense jungle.

1939: Captain Binnacle

The old paddle wheeler Pride of the River is mired in the mud flats of the San Joaquin River. Retired Captain Binnacle and dachshund Waddle can no longer navigate to San Francisco. Unexpectedly they are joined by Janet, Kate, Renny, and George, ages 7-11, for an imaginary voyage to Africa. They encounter jungle savages, a mutinous crew, a hurricane, and pirate Jonathan Shark and his cutthroats. Binnacle appeals to younger readers.