16 h 17 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 16 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Salt, tar, hard weather—and the pull of love and ambition along the New England coast.
In Blow the Man Down, Holman Day brings sea adventure and romance into the world of Maine’s coastal people. Hard work and rivalry run alongside a love story. Honor and ambition give this old-fashioned tale its tensions, while the northern coast provides a setting rooted in the lives of people who work by the sea.
The title comes from a sailors’ shanty, a song that helps a crew pull together as they haul lines and raise sails. That shared rhythm offers a way into Day’s coastal world. His writing draws its life from working people’s voices: blunt speech, dry humor, and the local color of his home state.
What you’ll discover
- Adventure with a human face Find sea adventure grounded in hard work, rivalry, and affection for coastal people.
- Love amid hard work Follow a romance woven through the demands and rivalries of life along the coast.
- Voices of the coast Enjoy dialogue shaped by the humor, bluntness, and distinctive speech of working people.
- The shanty behind the title Discover the connection between the book’s name and sailors pulling together at their ropes.
- Honor meets ambition Explore a sea romance where the wish to get ahead sits beside questions of honor.
Who will love it
Readers who love sea yarns full of fog, storms and shanties will enjoy this book, as will those drawn to plain-spoken heroes who stand up to greedy financiers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Love begins without a plan
- A captain is not a servant
- Calm judgment keeps the crew alive
- Rejection opens a new responsibility
- Fair work meets a hidden trap
- Pressure at sea destroys a reputation
- Danger reveals more than romance
- Shared trust backs a dangerous gamble
- Honor grows through unexpected friendships
Who’s who
- Boyd MayoA proud young Maine sea captain who loses his license and name, then fights to prove himself and save a wrecked steamer.
- Alma MarstonThe impulsive daughter of a Wall Street financier, who loves the moment and learns, through danger, what she owes others.
- Julius MarstonA cold financier who builds a coastal shipping merger and wants to crush every line that stands in his way.
- Polly CandageA spirited milliner's apprentice, shanghaied to sea by her father, who teaches the outcast islanders and quietly stands by Mayo.
- Captain Epps CandagePolly's father, a blustering coasting skipper who fears for his daughter and wants to do right, if he can work out how.
- Fletcher FoggA smooth, scheming manager who does Marston's dirty work, taking over the Vose line and ruining the men who stand in the way.
- Captain Zoradus WassA gruff old steamboat master who follows every rule, mentors Mayo and fights the combine in his own stubborn way.
- Oakum OtieCandage's whiskered mate, also called Mr. Speed, a loyal sailor who helps in every crisis and falls for pretty telegraph girls.
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- Large print hardcover
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Blow the Man Down in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Blow the Man Down
by Holman Day · 1916
Yacht captain Boyd Mayo loves Julius Marston's daughter, then loses everything and fights to float a wrecked steamer.
Medium level5–10 hours to read16 languages
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In short
What happens when a ship's captain kisses the richest man's daughter on a moonlit bridge, and then the whole world starts to lean on him? Blow the Man Down opens with that kiss.
Blow the Man Down at a glance
- Reading time
- About 9 h 15 min7 h 20 min fast, 11 h slow
- Length
- 131,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1916by Holman Day
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 moonlit kiss ties a captain to an heiress
The story opens on a summer night aboard the steam yacht Olenia. A violin plays in the saloon, and the moon lays silver on the sea. Captain Boyd Mayo has fought his feelings for days. Then he sweeps Alma Marston into his arms and kisses her.
He is horrified. He is a hired man, and she is the daughter of a Wall Street financier. But Alma laughs at him, calls him a prim Yankee, and kisses him back. Her creed is simple. Love now, let tomorrow look after itself, and keep love apart from money.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1916
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 10 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Day, Holman. Blow the Man Down. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/blow-the-man-down.
Day, H. (2026). Blow the man down. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/blow-the-man-down (Original work published 1916)
Day, Holman. Blow the Man Down. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/blow-the-man-down.
@book{day2026blow,
author = {Day, Holman},
title = {Blow the Man Down},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/blow-the-man-down},
note = {First published 1916}
}
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What is Blow the Man Down about?
It follows Boyd Mayo, a young Maine sea captain who falls for a financier's daughter, loses his job and name through other men's schemes, and fights back by salvaging a wrecked steamer with a crew of outcast fishermen.
Who wrote Blow the Man Down and when was it set?
Holman Day wrote it. He was a Maine author who died in 1935. The story is set in a time of coastal steamers, sailing schooners and Wall Street combinations, when small shipping lines fought to survive against a growing trust.
Why is the book called Blow the Man Down?
The title comes from an old sailors' shanty of the Atlantic packet ships, printed at the start of the book. The song is about being knocked flat in Liverpool town, and the story shows a man knocked down again and again.
The author
Holman Day
1865–1935 · American writer and editor
Holman Day was an American writer and editor, born in Vassalboro, Maine, in 1865. He worked in journalism and wrote novels and poetry. His novels include King Spruce, published in 1908, and The Landloper, published in 1915. He later lived in California and died in Mill Valley in 1935.
More by Holman Day
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