A Sea-Chase by Roger McDonald

Abstract

Reviewed by: A Sea-Chase by Roger McDonald Jason Namey Lives drawn out to sea Roger McDonald. A Sea-Chase. North Sydney, NSW: Vintage Australia, 2017. 288 pp. A$32.99. ISBN 978-0-14378-698-6 A Sea-Chase, Roger McDonald's tenth novel, opens in late 1970s Australia on Judy, "a young teacher sobbing at her desk . . . after [her] rioting class fled for the day" (3). In the midst of this low point, though, something serendipitous happens: Ken Redlynch, a fellow teacher and acting inspector, walks in. While comforting her, he learns that she is the daughter of Elizabeth Darke, a famous geneticist and leading figure in Scientists Against Nuclear Testing (SANT). Politically minded himself, Ken takes an interest in Judy, and through him she gets introduced to a "skinny blue-eyed wildwood creature" (22) named Wes Bannister, who lives aboard Ken's boat, the Rattler. Wes and Ken are passionate sailors, and Judy, through her relationship with Wes and friendship with Ken, discovers her own love for "a breath of wind on a section of taut canvas" (56). Though the novel does not have much by way of traditional plot—characters drift together and apart, move to different cities and change careers, a winding structure that resembles the path a sailboat takes—the narrative revolves around two journeys that the Rattler embarks on and their disastrous ends. First, Ken, Wes, and a third crewman aim the ship for Queensland, leaving Judy behind. Out at sea, the nearly impossible occurs: the ship's rudder falls off. Fortunately, a coal carrier quickly rescues the crew, and the Rattler washes ashore, "electrics ruined, engine swamped, gear broken, but [without] obvious hull damage to be seen" (100). After repairing the boat, Wes and Ken get recruited by members of SANT, who persuade them to use the boat for political means. They decide the Rattler's next voyage should be a sail to Auckland, flying the SANT flag, to protest French nuclear testing scheduled to happen there. This time, Ken stays back so that Judy can take his place. Out at sea, the ship runs into a tropical depression that Wes cannot safely navigate without falling behind schedule. He attempts to push through the storm, against Judy's wishes, which requires that he navigate recklessly close to the land, even though "the precaution of standing well out to sea in gale conditions was the wisdom of the ages" (148). A swell crashes the boat onto the shore. Everyone miraculously survives without major injury, but Judy cannot forgive Wes for carelessly putting their lives at risk. Over the following few weeks, Wes tries to contact Judy, but she "answer[s] him with silence . . . frozen down into her brain stem, hollow where her heart was towards him" (154). Wes is exiled from the sailing community for his dangerous maneuver, and he takes up with the charismatic Bill Rathbone, "a shearer and helicopter deer-shooter who worked around the world" (169). Wes soon finds himself wanted by the law after roughing up a few unionists and disappears into the bush. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Wes, Judy is three months pregnant with their child, forcing her to [End Page 173] decide whether she can forgive him for what he did. The novel treats moral failures—such as Wes's—with great seriousness; however, career failures, which strike these characters repeatedly, only serve as temporary setbacks leading to something better. Judy stumbled into teaching by "sticking with a bunch of girls who did everything together when they left school" (4), but, when the novel opens, she wants out of her contract. Only after failing as a teacher does she take up with Wes, discover sailing, and gain direction in her life. As a teenager, Wes had been a thief until Ken took him in and taught him how to build and repair boats. Even Ken—everyone's savior—goes bankrupt when a teaching machine he invented fails to generate any interest from prospective buyers. Like the other characters, though, Ken swiftly changes directions and soon amasses a small fortune designing, and selling, waterproof sailing gear. Characters' willingness to move past setbacks results from their shared belief that a...