The Wreck of the Mary Deare
by Hammond Innes (1956)

The book was adapted into a film starring Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston in 1959 by MGM.

The success of the book and the film based on it enabled Innes to buy his own ocean racer, which he named Mary Deare.

Interestingly the only female character is played by Virginia McKenna, who would star as Joy Adamson in the 1966 film Born Free.

This is Innes as his best, a tightly written first person narrative about the sea. While it doesn’t have the action expected of a modern thriller, it keeps you guessing until the end.