03181cam a22003493u 4500 76361 UtSlPG 20260610134752.0 m cr n 260607r20251918utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 PQ Larrouy, Maurice, 1882-1939 L'odyssée d'un transport torpillé. English The odyssey of a torpedoed tramp Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-06-23 deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "The odyssey of a torpedoed tramp" by Maurice Larrouy is an epistolary maritime war novel written in the early 20th century. It follows a French merchant steamer, the Pamir, and its young officer narrator under the gruff, resourceful Captain Fourgues as they haul coal, troops, and supplies through World War I hazards. The tale blends sea adventure with sharp, wry observations on naval strategy and bureaucracy from a merchant-marine vantage point. Readers drawn to gritty shipboard life, improvisation under pressure, and behind-the-lines wartime logistics will find it compelling. The opening of the story unfolds through letters that begin in August 1914: the Pamir leaves New Orleans with cotton, suffers a broken propeller shaft mid-Atlantic, and is halted by a British destroyer in the Irish Channel that announces war, prompting a swift turn back to France. The crew is stripped for the Navy, replaced by hapless reservists, and the ship is pushed from crisis to crisis—limping to Morocco without wireless, begging coal, and even ferrying German civilians and their furniture (with a farcical piano disaster) before being chartered as a naval collier. Coaling cruisers and destroyers near the Ionian islands brings mishaps (a glancing collision, a smashed lifeboat) and tart commentary on awkward procedures and strategy. Subsequent letters chart coal runs to West Africa, a risky night delivery of grain and stores to Antivari under air attack, and a scolding from battleship officers about gear the Pamir doesn’t have, all while mechanical troubles and lack of orders persist. The narrative then shifts to Alexandria, on to England to fuel the Grand Fleet (with pointed contrasts between British and French practices), a hurried Newcastle refit that the narrator manages alone, and finally a return to the Mediterranean with guns and shells bound for the Dardanelles. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: London: Constable and Company Ltd., 1918 World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction Epistolary fiction Tramp shipping -- Fiction https://archive.org/details/odysseyoftorpedo00larriala https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76361 117086 117086