The Salem Frigate

IN The Salem Frigate, John Jennings appears to have swung to a different medium from his past books in turning out what might be called period-piece-cumthriller. Wherever there is naval action through the years 1800 to 1814, Tom Tisdell, the doctor hero, is to be found in the midst of it. For good measure, he falls in love with a carpenter’s daughter and marries a Salem heiress. Love and battles are complicated by the unceasing activities of Ben Price, a 14-carat heel. He plays dirty in and out of action, marries the carpenter’s daughter, and tries to assault the heiress bride in a rather tactless attempt to revive an old affair with her. His only redeeming trait is a somewhat fuzzy attachment for the “Salem Frigate,” the U.S.S. Essex, which he helped build and on which he serves. In trouble, and there is plenty of it, Price turns to Tisdell, who always saves him and is rewarded in each ease by being cuffed about once more.

The characters, major and minor, do not stand out sharply, perhaps because of the nature of the story. Except for Tisdell, they have a disconcerting way of vanishing from the pages, only to reappear as through a trap door.

The continuous, almost dizzying action ranges the seven seas. It includes the loss of the Philadelphia at Tripoli, the enslavement of the crew, a cross-desert escape which brings in Eaton and his handful of United States marines, the final loss of the Essex to the British off the coast of Chile, and the death of Price. At the story’s end, Tisdell is on his way home to wed his first love, Price’s widow, the Salem heiress having been conveniently disposed of earlier.

For all this, Jennings uses bold, strong colors, and sustains a swift pace that will please those who relish hairbreadth escapes and explosive events.