Strange waters

About this book

Strange waters by Kingsbury Scott is a sea‑adventure short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on a Great Lakes freighter sent to wartime Atlantic service and the grit of an ordinary fireman who turns a desperate encounter with a German submarine into an audacious victory.

The story follows Tim Donahue, an aging but fierce stoker on the freighter Aurora, after the ship is cut in two, passed through the canal, reassembled, and dispatched across the Atlantic with grain. In the danger zone a U‑boat stalks them; the Aurora’s quick helm knocks off the sub’s periscope, but shellfire forces most of the crew into the boats. Trapped below and refusing to panic, Tim cowes his fire room, teams with August Schultz, a German-born shipmate, and uses guile: they ambush the boarding party in the dark, strip their uniforms, lure more men below, then cross to the submarine and seize it at gunpoint. By dawn the Aurora is towing her prize when a U.S. destroyer arrives and escorts them to safety, leaving Tim—whose courage is fueled by his reverence for John Paul Jones—as the unlikely architect of a classic turnaround at sea.