Clipper ships that don’t make it to port? Catch this old John Wayne flick – Reap the Wild Wind

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Clipper ship Three Brothers, the largest sailing ship in the world in 1875
Clipper ship Three Brothers, the largest sailing ship in the world in 1875

Reap the Wild Wind
Clipper ships taking the shortest route between the Mississippi and the Atlantic often end up on the shoals of Key West in the 1840s. Salvaging the ships’ cargos has become a lucrative business for two companies — one headed by a feisty young woman. Then she falls in love with the captain of a wrecked ship while he recuperates at her home. She travels to Charleston and is charming to the man most likely to be head of the captain’s company, thinking she will be able to get the captain the position he wants on the company’s first steam ship. Written by Dale O’Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com>

  • In 1840, America’s line life is the sea, with an intense commerce. In Key West shore, two ship savage companies dispute the wrecked vessels. The honest one belongs to the impulsive Loxi Claiborne and Capt. Phil Philpott and the other one is owned by the unscrupulous pirate King Cutler. While rescuing the crew of the ship “Julliete”, wrecked on the reeves by the First Mate Mathias Widgeon, Loxi falls in love for Captain Jack Stuart. She travels to Charleston to defend Jack and convince the ship owner to give the position of captain of the new steamship of the company, manipulating the powerful shipping company lawyer Steve Tolliver (Ray Milland), who also falls in love for her. This triangle of love leads Jack Stuart to bad and fatal choices.

    Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

  • Along the Florida Keys, Loxi Claiborne runs a ship salvage business, rivalled only by the unscrupulous King Cutler. Loxi rescues and falls in love with Jack Stuart, who comes to believe that his rival for Loxi, Stephen Tolliver, has sabotaged his chance at a new ship. Mistaken but vengeful, Stuart joins forces with Cutler with tragic results.

    Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

  • In 1840, there’s work on the Florida Keys for honest salvagers (like the Claibornes) and outright pirates like King Cutler, who bribes sailors to cause wrecks. When Capt. Stuart’s ship is wrecked, Loxi Claiborne rescues him, falls for him, and travels to Charleston to convince the owners the wreck wasn’t his fault; company lawyer Steve Tolliver returns with them to Key West to investigate. Tolliver and Stuart’s rivalry for Loxi’s hand complicates their swashbuckling adventures in pursuit of Cutler, ending in a trial and a dangerous dive for evidence.

    Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>Reap the wild wind

Available in eBook, paperback and audiobook
Available in eBook, paperback and audiobook

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