Turned Adrift by Harry Collingwood AUDIOBOOK

Harry Collingwood’s "Turned Adrift" stands as a vivid tableau of nineteenth-century maritime adventure, offering listeners an authentic glimpse into the golden age of clipper ships. Originally published in the late Victorian era, the novel unfolds aboard the Zenobia, a finely wrought barque conceived for speed and competition in the lucrative passenger trade between London and colonial Natal during the mid-1800s. Collingwood, himself an experienced sailor and engineer, brings a remarkable sense of immediacy and technical verisimilitude to his depiction of life at sea—the relentless pursuit of record passages, the dynamic interplay among crew and passengers, and the persistent shadow of disaster in the lonely reaches of the South Atlantic.

With the story’s opening set on a starlit night in 1862, the Zenobia surges across the open ocean, her decks alive with the hustle of officers, apprentices, and a varied complement of passengers. Collingwood crafts an atmosphere dense with anticipation and latent danger; the scent of smoke below decks signals the threat of fire, a perennial terror on wooden vessels laden with volatile cargo and vulnerable souls. The narrative emerges through the perspective of Mark Temple, an apprentice whose observations lend intimacy and tension to the unfolding crisis—his youthful anxieties and reflections casting the wider events in a distinctly human light.

Thematically, "Turned Adrift" explores duty, camaraderie, rivalry, and the ever-present contest between human agency and the caprices of wind and sea. Collingwood’s prose is both brisk and evocative, blending nautical jargon with passages of lyric description, and his attention to the operational realities of sailing life will appeal to readers seeking authenticity as well as excitement. The novel’s structure, arrayed against the historical backdrop of imperial expansion and technological change, further imbues the tale with interest for those drawn to maritime history and Victorian fiction alike.

Audiobook time & format : 8h31m59s, OPUS, 401 Mo
Audiobook free extract time & format : 5m (see below to listen), WAV
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