Sea, spray and spindrift : Naval yarns by H. Taprell Dorling
"Sea, spray and spindrift" by H. Taprell Dorling is a collection of naval stories written in the early 20th century. The tales deliver brisk adventure at sea—gun‑running chases, pirate attacks, wartime patrols, and shipboard crises—told with practical seamanship and a cheerful, can‑do tone. Young midshipmen, ship’s boys, warrant officers, and skippers face danger with ingenuity and nerve. The opening of the collection sets the tone: a preface notes the tales first appeared
in magazines and that all characters are fictitious. In “Tubby’s Dhow,” a midshipman nicknamed Tubby uses his Arabic to uncover a gun‑running plot in the Gulf of Oman, escapes a hostile village, then helps a cutter seize the arms-laden dhow in a night fight, earning praise after being wounded. “The Stranding of the Hoi‑Hau” follows Captain McCaul, his mate, and the skipper’s son Jim as their steamer grounds off Shantung, fights off pirate junks, and is rescued when Jim signals a British sloop with improvised Morse. “The Gunner’s Luck” shows a Cape patrol torpedo‑boat with a broken shaft being sailed—literally—into Saldanha Bay, leading to commendations for her resourceful gunner and chief artificer. The start of “Horatio Nelson Chivers” introduces a cheeky cook’s boy aboard a tramp steamer that is stopped and seized by a German cruiser; confined officers, watchful sentries, and the boy’s secret plan build suspense as he slips into the captain’s cabin to whisper his idea. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Dorling, H. Taprell (Henry Taprell), 1883-1968 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Pitcher, N. Sotheby (Neville Sotheby), 1889-1959 |
| Illustrator | Wigfull, W. Edward (William Edward), 1875-1944 |
| Title | Sea, spray and spindrift : Naval yarns |
| Alternate Title | Sea, spray & spindrift |
| Original Publication | J. B. Lippincott Company, 1917. |
| Contents | Tubby's dhow -- The stranding of the "Hoi-Hau" -- The gunner's luck -- Horatio Nelson Chivers -- The salvage of the "Cashmere" -- The inner patrol -- The gun-runners -- The escape of the "Speedwell" -- The luck of the "Tavy". |
| Credits | Chuck Greif, hekula03 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Sea stories, English |
| Subject | Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Fiction |
| Subject | Merchant marine -- Great Britain -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77262 |
| Release Date | Nov 18, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 216 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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