| Category: | Historical Fiction |
|---|---|
| Author: | Robert Gill, Jr. |
| Publisher: | Teaching Press Publishing |
| Publication Date: | June 28, 2026 |
| Number of Pages: | 110 |
| ISBN-13: | 979-8996726400 |
| ASIN: | 979-8996726400 |
Robert Gill, Jr.’s The Phantom Skipjack: A Carroway
Island Story is a spellbinding maritime mystery that opens at Haddie's
Fish Shak on Carroway Island, a Chesapeake Bay community with “more stories
than people.” When a visiting stranger puzzles over an 1857 photograph of men
standing on the frozen bay, old waterman Crazy Jack Mercer launches into the
tale of the Great Freeze, a winter so brutal it trapped the ferry, cut off
supplies, and turned the bay into a white, silent road. During the freeze,
waterman Amos Vale swears he spotted a skipjack sailing where no ship could
possibly sail, and nineteen-year-old Benjamin Pike sets off alone across the
ice to find her. He discovers the Martha Jane, a vessel retrofitted
with iron runners, her journal abandoned mid-sentence, before fog swallows her
whole. Then a century-old newspaper delivers the kicker: the Martha
Jane was lost with all hands long before Benjamin ever boarded her.
Gill's genre-blending does the magic: part historical
fiction, part nautical ghost story, part love letter to Chesapeake folklore. You’ll
be captivated instantly with Jack spinning his yarn over coffee, interrupted by
Haddie's dry asides, which give the narrative a fireside warmth. The characters
are sketched lightly but vividly: Benjamin’s restless curiosity, Amos's
stubborn conviction, Samuel's enjoyable skepticism. And then you have the
intricate worldbuilding that sucks you in. Carroway Island feels wonderfully real,
from its pie cases to ferry politics. The Phantom Skipjack has the
pacing of a suspenseful novel, focusing on the slow simmer that mirrors the groaning
ice, decks without footprints, and a ship that vanishes into the mist. The
spare, wry prose carries the lovely themes of community, belief, and how
stories outgrow facts: “…the first sighting belongs to the eyes; the second
belongs to the mouth.” This cozy, haunting winter read will have you rooting
for its unforgettable characters.
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