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{{Short description|1929 nautical novel written by C. S. Forester}}
{{for|the film with this title|Brown on Resolution (film)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{italic title}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox book
| author            = [[C. S. Forester]]
| pub_date          = 1929
| genre             = [[Nautical fiction]]
| image             = File:Brown_on_Resolution.png
| caption           = Title page for ''Brown on Resolution'' (1946)
}}
'''''Brown on Resolution''''' is a 1929 [[nautical fiction|nautical novel]] written by [[C. S. Forester]], set during [[World War I]].  The hero of the novel, [[Leading Seaman]] Albert Brown, is the sole able-bodied survivor of a sunken [[Royal Navy]] [[warship]], who single-handedly delays its attacker, a [[German Empire|German]] [[cruiser]], long enough to ensure its destruction by its pursuers.

==Plot==
The novel opens with Brown, wounded and dying, on fictional Resolution Island in the [[Galápagos Islands]]. The story is then told in [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]].

The first part of the story tells of Brown's birth, as a result of a liaison between his mother, Agatha Brown, and a Royal Navy officer, [[Lieutenant Commander]] Richard Saville-Samarez. It describes his upbringing in late [[Victorian era|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian era|Edwardian]] [[England]], with Agatha as an unmarried mother pretending to be a widow, and her instilling into him a sense of duty to the Navy and to his country. As soon as he is old enough (fifteen years of age), Brown joins the Navy, and at the start of World War I is serving on the cruiser [[Astraea-class cruiser|HMS ''Charybdis'']] at [[Singapore]].

In the second half of the story ''Charybdis'' is sunk by the fictional German [[armored cruiser]] SMS ''Ziethen'' in the eastern Pacific, and Brown, along with two severely-wounded men, is picked up as [[Prisoner of war|POWs]] by the German ship.  As the ''Ziethen'' was damaged in the exchange, her captain postpones his [[commerce raiding]] mission to [[Australasia]]n waters, and has to find a deserted [[Anchorage (maritime)|anchorage]] to repair his ship. In the novel, he chooses the fictional Resolution Island in the Galápagos Islands.  The resourceful Brown steals a [[rifle]] and a small amount of ammunition, water and food, escapes, and makes his way ashore, where he is able to pick off exposed crew members who are trying to repair the ship's damaged [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]].  As her captain has already [[Careening|careened]] his vessel, the ''Ziethen'''s guns cannot be brought to bear on Brown, and German [[Landing party|landing parties]] are sent ashore to hunt him down.  In Forester's description, Resolution Island is an almost-impenetrable tangle of sun-blasted sharp-edged lava blocks covered with [[Cactus|cacti]], making it extremely difficult for the Germans to locate Brown.

Brown is able to delay the repairs for two days, but is eventually mortally wounded by a lucky rifle shot from a German sailor as the crew is being recalled to the ship. He never learns that his actions delayed the ''Ziethen'' long enough to ensure that she is intercepted and destroyed by a pursuing Royal Navy force.  Coincidentally, the senior officer of the British force is the now [[Captain (naval)|Captain]] Saville-Samarez, Brown's father, although they never know of each other's existence.

==Historical background==
{{Main article|Naval warfare of World War I#Distant Oceans}}
As so often with Forester's novels, the action takes place against a background of carefully researched historical fact. During the early part of World War I, Germany had a [[East Asia Squadron|small squadron of modern vessels in the Far East]].  When war was declared, the larger vessels of the squadron set out to return to Europe. The light cruisers {{SMS|Nürnberg|1906|2}}, {{SMS|Leipzig|1905|2}} and {{SMS|Dresden|1907|2}}, on detached duty, rejoined after brief periods of raiding, while [[SMS Emden (1906)|SMS ''Emden'']] was detached to serve as a commerce raider. The fictional ''Ziethen'' is supposed to be on a similar mission.

Most of the German squadron was eventually destroyed at the [[Battle of the Falkland Islands]], but the British eventually found ''Dresden'' anchored and essentially non-operational at an [[Battle of Más a Tierra|isolated Pacific island]].  The British then fired on the anchored ship, and unable to effectively fight back, her crew scuttled her.

The German cruiser ''Ziethen'' described in the novel does not match any real German warship. She seems to more resemble the Austrian cruiser ''Kaiserin Elizabeth'', which was deployed extensively in the Pacific in the years leading up to WWI. She is a quite good match for the German cruiser "Kaiserin Augusta" which had extensive service in the far east and pacific stations.



==Parallels in Forester's work==
This novel has some parallels to Forester's ''[[Death to the French]]''. In both novels the hero is an [[Enlisted rank|enlisted]] man, cut off from friendly forces and acting alone. In both, the protagonist's dogged and surprisingly effective actions stem from instinctive shrewdness rather than conscious planning.

==Film versions==
The novel has been filmed twice.  [[John Mills]] played the title role in the 1935 version, called ''[[Brown on Resolution (film)|Brown on Resolution]]''.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=29 November 1968|page=5|last=Frizell|first=Helen|title=Wry smile at death|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqpWAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&article_id=6869,9959276|access-date=30 July 2021}}</ref>  The 1953 version which starred [[Jeffrey Hunter]] as Brown, was called ''Single-Handed'' in the UK and ''[[Sailor of the King]]'' in the US, and was set during [[World War II]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/c-s-forester/brown-on-resolution}}

{{C. S. Forester}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown On Resolution}}
[[Category:1929 British novels]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Novels by C. S. Forester]]
[[Category:The Bodley Head books]]
[[Category:Novels set during World War I]]
[[Category:Novels set on uninhabited islands]]
[[Category:Novels set on fictional islands]]