Choke Point (JIM BRADY, #4)
Description
In the book immediately prior to this one, titled Command Decision, Jim Brady, now able-seaman after bucking a four-ringed captain, saw for the first time, to his horror, his new ship. ("New" is a most kindly euphemism.) In Pelican he met her captain, a chap named Holland; her first lieutenant, Matheson; and a dark wild Irishman named O'Connel - all of whom you probably have already met yourselves. During an air attack on the British Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria Brady learned that, as with a book and its cover, you don't judge a ship by its rust. As we left Pelican last time, Captain Moore, Leader of the Tenth Destroyer Flotilla has just called for his captains. It was an urgent summons. Dutchy Holland senses trouble. Dutchy is very good at this, and his premonitions do not let him down this time.
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Person
JAMES EDMOND MACDONNELL was born in 1917 in Mackay, Queensland and became one of Australia's most prolific writers. As a boy, he became determined to go to sea and read every seafaring book he could find. At age 13, while his family was still asleep, he took his brother's bike and rode eighty miles from his home town to Brisbane in an attempt to see ships and the sea. Fortunately, he was found and returned to his family. He attended the Toowoomba Grammar School from 1931 to 1932. He served in the Royal Australian Navy for fourteen years, joining at age 17, advancing through all lower deck ranks and reaching the rank of commissioned gunnery officer. He began writing books while still in active service.
Macdonnell wrote stories for The Bulletin under the pseudonym "Macnell" and from 1948 to 1956 he was a member of The Bulletin staff. His first book, Fleet Destroyer ? a collection of stories about life on the small ships ? was published by The Book Depot, Melbourne, in 1945. Macdonnell began writing full-time for Horwitz in 1956, writing an average of a dozen books a year.
After leaving the navy, Macdonnell lived in St. Ives, Sydney and pursued his writing career. In 1988, he retired to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He died peacefully in his sleep at a Buderim hospital in 2002. He is survived by his children Beth, Jane and Peter.
Macdonnell's naval stories feature several recurring characters ? Captain "Dutchy" Holland, D.S.O., Captain Peter Bentley, V.C., Captain Bruce Sainsbury, V.C., Jim Brady, and Lieutenant Commander Robert Randall.
