Читать книгу The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers - Страница 1

The Frisian Islands lie along the North Sea coast of Holland and Germany, and sailing around these islands can be dangerous, especially in bad weather, because of the sandbanks that lie hidden beneath the shallow waters at high tide. The channels between the sandbanks are narrow and easy to miss, and the sandbanks themselves change with the wind and the tides.

Arthur Davies is young, enthusiastic, and a brave and skilful sailor, who takes great delight in sailing his yacht Dulcibella through these difficult and dangerous waters. He asks his friend Carruthers to come out from London and join him for a sailing holiday, but his reasons for doing this only become clear to Carruthers after several days on board. It seems there is a riddle to solve, and a little mystery about a man called Dollmann. The two friends begin to investigate – and the commander of a German gunboat begins to take a close interest in them.

For the year is 1902, and sandbanks are not the only danger on this coast. The gathering storm-clouds of the First World War are slowly growing darker, year by year …