Beginning as a collection of short stories, Heggen based his novel on his experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during WWII . The novel is a series of stories set aboard the Reluctant, showing the problems of life aboard a naval auxiliary in the rear areas of the Pacific war. One chapter deals with a very new ensign finding his feet aboard a ship much more casual than a taut man-of-war. Another shows the kind of feuding that months of boredom can engender between two officers.
One chapter shows what can happen when a crew that hasn't had a liberty in more than a year is anchored off an island that has a naval hospital with nurses and no shades on their windows. Yet another recounts what happens when the Reluctant is sent with a load of cargo to the port of Elysium and Captain Morton grants liberty to half the crew. The final chapter illustrates the affection of the crew towards Mr. Roberts, when his transfer finally comes through and he leaves the ship to return to the United States for assignment to a new destroyer ... and what happens afterwards.
Sea or Islands
