Wreckers must breathe / The Mary Deare - Hammond Innes

Hammond Innes is one of the great story-tellers of our time. Inspired by his own experiences in the world's wild and dangerous places, he creates adventures whose dramatic intensity and stunning realism reach their peak in his exciting tales of ships and the sea.

Wreckers Must Breathe takes us to Cornwall  in the darkly threatening days before World War II. While the British Fleet in the Channel prepares for the coming onslaught, the threat to Allied shipping is even closer at hand; beneath the wind-swept cliffs lie German U-boats, poised for the moment of attack. The scene is set for an astonishing story of espionage, violence, and the terrible claustrophobia of life beneath the waves...

The Mary Deare is one of the most extraordinary sea stories ever written. Based on a real-life incident in which Hammond Innes was nearly sunk while sailing his own boat, it tells of a battered old freighter adrift near reefs off the French coast and the disastrous chain of events which took her there. The story builds to an intriguing climax as her captain fights to save his ship - and his reputation.