Is This Guy for Real?

Can this guy be FOR REAL? I am talking 'bout Captain Dwight Towers, USN.  And, so very sorry to inform you, this man is a fictional character, no one you can really sink your cleats into. But still, he really does bother me.

The fiction work he exists in is "On the Beach", by Neville Shute.  Overall, I like the fiction of Shute. And I like the genre here, which I think would be called 'post-apocalyptic' fiction.  I actually read quite a bit of this type of fiction.  Some titles I like include 'The Road', by Cormac McCarthy and 'The Last Ship', by William Brinkley. There are many more that I could recommend.

And truthfully, there is something to be said for "On the Beach".  My recent journey into this novel was my third go round, so I entered this adventure willingly. Again. As the time before, I listened to the Audible version of this novel, narrated terrifically by Simon Prebble. The novel is very dated, originally published in 1957, it was recorded for Recorded Books, llc for this version in 1991.  By my reckoning, this would indicate that the book has stood a significant test of time.

I can understand why it may have stood this test of time. For one thing, even in 2019 the threat of Nuclear Holocaust is very real, so this dated novel is based on real fears, even 62 years after publication.  This novel takes a pretty interesting and unique viewpoint. Unlike many other post-apologetic works, Shute takes a pretty docile approach to the apocalyptic situation.  Not a lot of preaching in this book, really.  No real heroes, villains, or conflict at a quick study of the plot.  The conflict is the impending extinction of mankind, but there is no real antagonist for that conflict to focus on. The tone seems to be 'this holocaust is what it is'. As for villains, those are primarily the idiots that pushed the buttons and the governments that allowed it to happen, present in only shadow form in this novel.  The novel takes a look at pretty regular people, average straight up people, including families, as they deal with and face their impending doom upon a dying earth.

So why does Captain Dwight Towers bother me so much? What gets my hackles up?

The Captain has at his command a very large nuclear powered submarine. In fact, including the sister submarine stationed in sub-tropical South America, eventually he becomes Admiral of two nuclear powered Submarines. In this novel, these are the only surviving ships of consequence in the entire world. The ships, among other positive traits, are equipped to be able to desalinate sea water and can filter the 'hot' nuclear air to be breathable. And the novel states that enough nuclear fuel can be generated in Australia, where the ship is based, to keep it powered for years. Air, water, power. AIR, WATER, POWER!  There they are with three pretty key ingredients required for sustaining life. And there is one more...the obvious one for submarines. As a nuclear powered submarine, this ship can submerge as needed.

One more thing to consider: Many of the men stationed on the 'Scorpion', the primary nuclear submarine Captain Dwight Towers commands, are married to women in Australia. Captain Towers himself has a beautiful young female companion completely in love with him. There are women aplenty. Besides breathable air, power, drinkable water...if you add to the equation the potential for procreation...you are starting to assemble the building blocks to sustain human life.

There are obstacles for sure. The submarine can not stay submerged forever. And dry land is on the verge of becoming inhospitable. The food the submarine can carry is limited, certainly not enough to sustain life indefinitely.  But with all the resources available shipboard on a US nuclear submarine, and with all the additional resources of Australia at their fingertips, are you telling me that no amount of brainstorming can come up with a list of solutions to the serious issues faced?

The setting for this novel is 1957. By this time in history, there are stations on the Antarctic continent. What stops Captain Tower and his willing and capable trained staff, teamed with the best scientists in Australia...from moving the available submarines and as many food barges they can tow...from finding refuge in a safe harbor near one of these Antarctic scientific stations in hopes of prolonging their lives and their progeny...for as long as possible. Using the power and resources of the nuclear submarines, it becomes at least one last chance of saving a remnant of civilization.

Captain Towers never even rolls the thought through his dim cranium.  This is unbelievable to me.  His behavior seems to be that he will obey every US Naval ordinance line by line to the very end. No civilians aboard ship, no attempt to sustain lives of his loved ones nor any others. No basic human sense of responsibility to the human race?: By following Navy regs precept upon precept, he single-handedly dooms all of humanity. He dooms it willingly. And he dooms the one woman who truly and completely loves him.

This, to me,  is unforgivable.  As a literary character, he has no character at all. He becomes an allegory for all those folks who blindly pushed the buttons that lead to this literary disaster in the first place.

Let me tell you, when it comes to blind obedience, or going down fighting to the very end...I choose the latter.

Cheers, nca

Mullet Trapping

I recently saw a picture of the 70's Rock Band 'Kiss' performing during the recent 'Final Tour'.  I was not so surprised that they were in full KISS greasepaint, however on second thought I was surprised that I was not surprised. These men are in their mid 60's, still wearing their trademark Clown White and  black grease Stick faces, outrageously tall platform boots, and tight leather pants.

Another 70's band I saw on a network commercial was REO Speedwagon.  They too were in their mid to late sixties.  No greasepaint, still the band was still sporting 80's style hair.  

Looking through the play list of both concert tours, I could not help but notice that their once chart topping standards fill the play lists.  And why not, their look, their sound were there when these classic bands first made it big. And their styles and tunes are what drive thousands of fans to the concerts paying the big bucks now. The fans want to see exactly what they know and love. The fans are not interested in what is new or what drives these band members now.  The crowds pay for bringing back the 70's and 80's of their memories exactly as first conceived.  I am all for making money after paying your dues. More power too them.  I would do the exact same thing.

Yet...Yet...  Yet what does this say for all of us.  Have we found ourselves trapped in our glory days?  As Springsteen sings...

Glory days well they'll pass you by

Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye

Glory days, glory days

Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight

And I'm going to drink till I get my fill

And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it

But I probably will

I'm not quite ready for wallowing in my glory days yet.  I'd prefer not to think my best days are behind me.  I'm challenging myself to prove  that I still got a little bit of glory to achieve.  No, I was never on stage driving the young girls wild. But whose to say this old dog won't see his day.

Cheers, nca

Hornblower and the Yankee

One Christmas, when I was a youth...my Mom gave me a gift of a partial set of Alexander Kent books. The books represented most of the Richard Bolitho series, set during the Napoleonic Wars.  The series introduced me to British Naval fiction for the very first time.  I found myself fascinated and hooked.  I read everything by Alexander Kent, and once finished with that I branched out to C.S. Forester and the Hornblower series, and other similar type novels. 

The British Navy, as depicted in these wonderful adventure novels, was the Prince of the Seas. The books were full of adventure, romance, daring, swashbuckling, intrigue, danger. The sea life was romanticized and glorious as depicted.  There were cutting out operations, captures, escapes, great sea victories, beautiful damsels in distress. There was the dirty side too, the press gangs, mutinies, and villains.   This was escapism literature of the various best sort.

The books, though fiction, introduced me to that greatest of British Naval heroes, Lord Horatio Nelson. Indeed, I am sure the heroes of many of the novels I read were likely patterned after this real life, larger than life hero.   Nelson, hero of The Battle of the Nile, destroyer of the French and Spanish fleets, and tragic casualty during his greatest victory of all, the Battle of Trafalgar.  There, during the pinacle of British Naval power, Nelson was shot on the deck of the great warship 'HMS Victory'; later dying within the dark dank bowels of the very same vessel.

From this small set of books, gifted by my Mother...I had come to know and love British Naval history and dominance.  And Nelson and the 'HMS' Victory represented everything I loved about that particular era in history.  This 'obsession' of mine was very likely a contributing factor to my 'joining' the US Navy at 17 after graduating High School.  It was a great disappointment at that point in my life that my poor vision prevented me from being accepted in this 'calling'. I had no other plans as I matriculated from High School.  As I moved on and made alternate decisions with my life, I don't think I ever stopped loving this period of history and setting in time;  17th Century British Navy.  Of interesting note is that my rejection from the U.S. Navy is what led me to working at Sky-Y YMCA Camp the Summer of 1977. As Richard Gere's character xxx states in the movie 'An Officer and a Gentleman', "I've got no place else to go".  Well, I did have some place to go...Summers at the YMCA and Uni.

40 years later, while visiting my dear 'Sky-Y' friend Neville in Hampshire, he surprised me by driving me down to Portsmouth where we were actually  boarding the 'HMS Victory'.  This was a very magical moment for me.  Coming full circle from the 'Nicholas' of my youth to that very sweet moment of time. Strolling the very same decks Nelson commanded! Seeing the exact area where Nelson was shot, and seeing the area his cot was hung and upon which he died! There would have been no way Neville would have known how much this moment meant to me, nor how much it touched me and made me reflect upon my path in life.

Thanks Nev!

I am curious, what fiction genres touched your heart when you were a youth?  And what impact did that have on your life?



Cheers, nca