Brown on Resolution

Leading Seaman Albert Brown is dying, almost dead, upon the razor sharp lava, amid the spiny cactus, and among spent rifle shells on Resolution Island in the Galapagos group, in the first short chapter of this novel. How did this illegitimate young man from a romantic but only 5 day liaison between a middle-class Victorian spinster and a young naval officer come to be in the Pacific Ocean during WW1? The growing up of Brown under the loving guidance and strong will of his mother is the background C.S.Forester uses to develop Brown's strong sense of Duty and unconscious heroism. When chance puts Brown, one of three survivors, as a prisoner on a damaged German ship, it is just the challenge Brown needs to do his best to delay the ship's repairs. When the repairs of 12 hours stretch to more than 2 days because of Brown and his rifle, the delay allows the British to catch the German ship and sink it. With the victorious British Captain the unknown father of the unknown dying son getting the glory, this is one of the few truly ironic novels of the era.