The Sea Captain

This dime novel by Roger Starbuck depicts a maritime disaster off the Massachusetts coast. During a violent hurricane near Cohasset, the coastal schooner Narwhale, commanded by young Captain Will Waud, catches fire at sea. Witnesses on shore—including Ruth, whose cabin-boy son Harry is aboard; her brother Brooks; the ship's owner Simon Holdfast; and Rose Hope, a young village woman attached to the captain—watch helplessly as the burning vessel and lifeboats are destroyed by mountainous waves. Brooks attempts a rescue with a skiff that overturns; subsequently launched rescue boats prove unable to reach struggling crew members against the furious gale. As the schooner burns to the waterline and wreckage crashes against rocks, the onlookers fear the entire crew lost.