Saltwater Summer

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

Sixteen-year-old Don Morgan, recently orphaned, has used the money he
made trapping to buy his first boat, a 32–foot salmon troller named
The Mallard. He plans to fish the entire length of the B.C. coast, from
the Fraser River to Prince Rupert.

With old friend Tubby Miller as mate, Don sails north. Don soon thinks
he has achieved a large part of what he has come for: “These were the
fishing grounds that he had heard about and thought about for years. The
Mallard was the boat he had longed for as something beyond attainment
only a season ago. And he was with her and on equal terms among men who
had seemed infinitely older and wiser and braver than himself a few
months earlier.”

Don soon learns that his life has only just begun. He strikes trouble
with a few careless drinks and the killing of a deer out of season. As
an older friend observes, “Don hasn’t found himself yet, but when he
does it won’t be fishing.” A wise and kindly judge lets him off
lightly.

This dramatic, coming-of-age story about a young man includes an
exciting rescue in a fierce storm, as well as many indirect lessons on
maturity and what we might call wisdom. Highly recommended.