The Dark Frigate (Newbery Medal Winner)

This book was winner of the 1924 Newbery Medal for best contribution to American children's literature (Unfortunately, Hawes died before the Medal was awarded). It focuses on an English lad named Philip Marsham in the 1640s who signs up for duty on a frigate. The ship is taken over by others and is converted into a pirate ship. Philip has to find a way off the ship and back to England. And, the adventures begin! Boy, I wish I had found this book when I was a kid. Iwould have loved it. Even now, as an adult, I enjoyed it.

Although I do not agree with the suggested reading ages (4-8), this is a wonderful selection of fiction which provides the reader with a proper sense of the 17th century life on the high seas. The book could easily become a household favorite if read aloud to younger children. The tale itself can be apprecited for its depth and quality by literally any age group. I highly recommend reading and sharing the Dark Frigate.

Review by Adam Phippen, Brookwood School Grade 7. Phil Marsham is the main character in the book The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes, which I thought was very good. Phil Marsham was born in England and was English by right of birth. Phil grew up to be a strong willed young lad, who always had a love for the sea. He had a dream to sail the seas and get away from bland people of the county he lived in. Because he wanted to travel the seas he was very adventurous. He was a brave boy for when faced with scary situations he always approached it head on. For example when he had to get away from the farmers who were chasing him he hid in a place that they would not find him. This story took place in the late 1800's in England and around the cost line Phil sailed on. Since the area was under English law Phil had a hard time being a pirate. At this time there were many soldiers to guard ships against the threat that pirates proved to be. Many were very notorious so there were lots of dangers you had to get past if you were a pirate. There were many ugly ways of executing some one and all were feared by rouges. The idea of this book is that Phil is running from the man from the inn since even though it was an accident he still could not face the man, since he would surely die. So he had one choice. To run! This book starts out that Phil is going to London to charter onto a ship. When he stops at an inn Phil accidentally fires a man's gun off. This proved to be a big problem since he destroyed the inn's interior and nearly killed a man. So Phil started running for his life. This is what started the book. This book was great since it was very dramatic and had great descriptions. The drama comes in as it always comes in with the pirates and with their mutiny and their unsavory descriptions. Where there are rouges there are exciting climactic hangings. The well described dramatic battles put a certain edge to the story. What pirate story can go without a well described sea ship battles? This book is a little hard to follow because it is in third person view with conversations. It also uses lots of odd words and phrases and an accent. Some accents make it hard to understand the people in their conversations. You will get baffled some times when you run into a word like "thee", "thou" , "mizzy mast" or "twill". The phrases will sound a little funny too like "the sea pooped us out". For many drama lovers this is a great book. The battles put an action lover's heart at rest. This book has a part for anyone. It even has a couple romances too. It shows what friends will do for each other. It gets funny when drunks run into serious people. What do you get when you put pirates, soldiers and a whole lot of guns together? You get total mayhem. This is a great book for any one who thinks they can tackle it.

Originally published in the early 1900's, this book is an excellent resource for teaching young men about being their own self in a society that is trying to mold them into another copy. High adventure on the high seas. This book is impossible to put down. 75 years ago this was my grandmother's favorite book. Now it is mine.