4 h 36 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 4 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
At sea, courage means choosing between the pull of safety and the call of duty.
In As We Sweep Through the Deep, Gordon Stables brings together courage, romance and glory in a naval adventure from the 1890s. The sea is a place of danger and shared hardship, where duty matters and the bonds between men help them face a hard life afloat. This is adventure in the old-fashioned Victorian manner.
A Scottish writer and physician, Stables brings experience as a surgeon in both the Royal Navy and the merchant service to his sea stories. This book reflects Britain at the height of its naval power, with pride in its navy and firm beliefs about empire, duty and rank. Its central tension is the pull between personal safety and service.
What you’ll discover
- The call of duty Explore an adventure tradition where courage means facing danger rather than choosing safety.
- Bonds forged at sea Discover the comradeship at the heart of stories about a hard life afloat.
- A thread of romance Find romance alongside the courage and honour that give this naval adventure its appeal.
- A naval writer's world Enter a sea story shaped by Stables's own experience as a surgeon at sea.
- Victorian ideals in view Encounter the beliefs about empire, service and rank that belong to the book's age.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love wooden ships, cannon smoke and brave young officers, and who enjoy a warm love story, sea songs, and a narrator who chats with you.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Debt puts love against duty
- A story reveals a promise's danger
- Jack's pride meets loss and kindness
- A clever trap brings hidden trouble
- Surprise gives Jack the advantage
- Firm command does not require cruelty
- Hope lets Jack keep moving
- The quiet shore shapes the adventure
Who’s who
- Jack MackenzieA proud, warm-hearted young Highland naval officer who rises to command a frigate and tries to forget the girl he loves.
- Tom FairlieJack's loyal friend and first lieutenant, cheerful and practical, who loves Jack's sister Flora.
- Gerty KeaneA spirited young woman who loves Jack yet feels bound to please her lonely, grasping father.
- Flora MackenzieJack's graceful sister, a harpist, brave in the face of her family's troubles and quietly in love with Tom.
- Mr. RichardsA kind old lawyer with a pipe and a plan, who dearly loves the Mackenzies and Gerty and wants them happy.
- Mr. KeaneA suspicious, money-minded lawyer who holds the Mackenzie mortgage and wants his daughter to marry a titled man.
- MʻHeartyThe ship's rough, tender-hearted surgeon, always thirsty, who fights with a cutlass as readily as he heals.
- Sir Digby AuldA pompous, plump baronet in a youthful coat who hopes to marry Gerty while living on his future prospects.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print hardcover
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As We Sweep Through the Deep
A proud Highland son sails to war while a lawyer with a pipe plots to save the girl he loves.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Two years to the day, Jack Mackenzie sailed out of England in the frigate Ocean Pride. Now, in a foggy London office and a Suffolk mansion, three people think of him at once.
As We Sweep Through the Deep at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 35 min2 h 5 min fast, 3 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 37,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A proud family sinks while two girls wait
The story opens in London fog, with two lawyers who see one family very differently. Keane is small, keen and suspicious. He is owed more than forty thousand pounds by General Grant Mackenzie, a one-armed Highland soldier who still lives like a lord at Grantley Hall. Richards, round and white-haired, loves the family and wishes his partner would let his daughter Gerty marry the general's son. Keane laughs. He has a baronet named Sir Digby Auld in mind, and he calls Jack a pauper with a sword.
At the hall, Flora Mackenzie plays the harp while Gerty lies on a couch nearby. The two girls count the days since Jack left. Gerty admits she has half loved him since childhood. Yet she loves her lonely father even more, and she says she might marry Sir Digby to please him.
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Cite this edition
Stables, Gordon. As We Sweep Through the Deep. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-we-sweep-through-the-deep.
Stables, G. (2026). As we sweep through the deep. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-we-sweep-through-the-deep
Stables, Gordon. As We Sweep Through the Deep. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-we-sweep-through-the-deep.
@book{stables2026as,
author = {Stables, Gordon},
title = {As We Sweep Through the Deep},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-we-sweep-through-the-deep}
}
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What is As We Sweep Through the Deep about?
It follows Jack Mackenzie, a young Scottish naval officer, through sea battles in the wars against France in the 1790s, while at home his family faces ruin and his love for Gerty Keane is tested.
Who is Gordon Stables?
Gordon Stables was a Scottish naval surgeon who wrote many adventure tales for young readers and families, often set at sea. He died in 1910, and his own sailor's experience colors this book.
Is As We Sweep Through the Deep based on a true story?
The main characters are invented, but the setting is real. The book describes actual battles such as St. Vincent, Camperdown and the Nile, along with the mutinies of 1797, and includes real figures like Nelson and Duncan.
The author
Gordon Stables
1840–1910 · Scottish adventure novelist
Scottish naval surgeon and author of adventure fiction.
More by Gordon Stables
See all their booksMore like this
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