Many of the elements that will appear later in The Wreck of the Mary Deare can be found in this Innes postwar novel some eight years earlier. The urgency to chase through choppy, cold seas laden with dangerous rocks, the salvaging of a mystery ship, and the lengthy proceedings of a maritime court case. That and the tale of two captains, taking very different paths.

There is another coincidence, here. I suppose it is a coincidence, at least. And that is the plot device that surrounds the loss of the Trikkala and its cargo of silver bullion. The deception at work is very similar to that which appeared in The Wake of the Red Witch. The latter appeared on movie screens the same year Innes published his novel, 1948. Garland Roark's novel itself was published two years earlier. And, of course, Roark's story about pirates, volcanoes, and the East Indies, Fair Wind to Java, came about also in 1948 before being made into a movie in 1953. Lots of inspiration for Innes in those two works, I think. Nonetheless, the pacing and characteristic teases in which Innes gradually drops hints of impending trouble into his story are present in Maddon's Rock to make this work in both style and substance an identifiable creation of Hammond Innes'. ( )

Thisis one of Innes' lesser-known works, but one of his best in my opinion. Its a rip-roaring read centering on the audacious attempt to steal millions worth of silver in the dying days of WWII by faking the sinking of the ship carrying the treasure and secreting the ship on a barren rock in the North Atlantic until the thieves can reclaim the booty under the guise of a salvage crew. Its a simple story, but efftectively and sparely dealt with by a competent and careful author who knows what he's writing about. Its a great page-turner, more than worth the couple of dollars it will cost at the local secondhand book shop, and having read it you will have the satisfaction of time well-spent. ( )

Op 2 maart 1945 wordt een aantal soldaten gerepatrieerd van Moermansk naar Engeland met het schip Trikkala. Als het schip dreigt te zinken blijkt dat alle sloepen onklaar zijn gemaakt. Tijdens een afschuwelijke en wanhopige vlucht van de plaats van de ramp verdrinken vrijwel alle opvarenden, behalve Vardy en Cook, twee van de soldaten, en Jennifer Sorrel, een meisje dat drie jaar in een concentratiekamp heeft gezeten.
Ook de kapitein en enkele van zijn naaste medewerkers overleven de ramp. Op een vlot komen Vardy, Cook, en Jennifer Sorrel na een gevaarlijke tocht in Engeland aan. Daar echter worden de beide mannen, door toedoen van de kapitein, onmiddellijk gearresteerd wegens muiterij.

In de gevangenis begint Vardy te vermoeden dat er iets gaande is. Wat wil de vreemde kapitein Halsey, wat is er met de Trikkala gebeurd?