Captain Jan by Jan De Hartog

Captain Jan

A Story of Ocean Tugboats

by Jan De Hartog

The English version edited and abridged by Carlos Peacock

Readers Book Club, 1954, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners; dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, chipping and small tears {see photographs)

“A revelation of the heroic life of the ocean tugboat men, their love for their boats and for the women they leave behind, their sorrows and triumphs, and the lonely waste of the sea which is their world.
From the moment when Jan kisses goodbye to his Nellie and steps aboard the dirty old tug Jan Van Gent with its fantastic vodka-soaked genius of a Russian Captain, to his setting sail finally as Commodore of Holland’s greatest tugboat fleet, we are swept on through scenes of grandeur, horror, comedy and romance, poignant loss, tragedy and triumph.  And at the end we turn back to read again one or other of the innumerable episodes which stay in the memory, and which make this a book that members will be glad to read.”