Command
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in early twentieth-century English literature who are willing to read originals
- Readers who like fiction about the sea, maritime life, and sailors
- People who need free public-domain English ebooks for language study or extensive reading
- Enthusiasts studying the selection of English literary resources in Project Gutenberg
Not a good fit for
- Readers hoping for fast-paced, strongly plotted genre fiction
- People whose English is not yet sufficient to read an early English novel in full
- Readers who need a Chinese translation or annotated edition for classroom use
Reading tips
- Read the opening chapters first to see whether the narrative pace and vocabulary suit you before deciding to read it all.
- Keep a vocabulary notebook and record nautical and professional terms as you read.
- Read alongside material on McFee's life and seafaring background to help understand the characters' situations.
- For extensive reading, advance a fixed amount each day so a slow pace does not make you stop.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
- 1
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About the author
William Morley Punshon McFee (1881–1966) was a British novelist of the sea, born in London and died in Connecticut, USA. Trained as a marine engineer, he spent many years at sea and served in a British naval transport ship during the First World War. From 1924 he devoted himself to writing; four of his works are held in this collection, including An Ocean Tramp, Aliens, Captain Macedoine's Daughter and Command. His novels are mostly set against seafaring life and the experience of sailors, written in a realistic style and notable for their portrayal of seafarers' circumstances and inner lives. He also wrote book reviews for the New York Sun and the New York Times, and in later life became an American citizen. Public information on his early education and literary career is limited.
