Down to a Sunless Sea
Encyclopedia
David Graham
's Down to a Sunless Sea (1979) is a post-apocalyptic novel
about a planeload of people during and after a short nuclear war
, set in a near-future world where the USA is critically short of oil. The title of the book is taken from a line of the poem Kubla Khan
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
.
by Jonah Scott, a British pilot for the fictional airline Air Britain who has arrived in New York City on his regular flight from London. The United States has collapsed into the equivalent of a bankrupt Third World
and borderline-starving country (1200 calories/day) after using up nearly all of its oil
reserves and a resultant collapse of the dollar
. The taxi that Jonah and Senior Flight Attendant Kate Monahan take to the airline's NYC apartment is powered by methane generated from chicken droppings.
Kate is a lovely redhead, and Jonah is a "red-blooded male," and the book is full of Jonah's thoughts on the subject regarding Kate's lovely figure, as well as what they do together, in detail. Even after they each find other partners, Kate's assets are described quite clearly. It's a guy's book.
During the night, Jonah and the apartment superintendent and guard, John Capel, must fight off armed burglars disguised as military police looking for the food Jonah and Kate brought with them. Capel is wounded but Kate demonstrates her basic medical skills in cleaning and dressing the wound. Jonah offers to help Capel and a newly-orphaned girlfriend of one of his crew travel illegally to London aboard his aircraft.
Shortly after take off from New York, Jonah is informed that Israel
has attacked Beirut, Damascus, and Cairo with nuclear weapon
s in retaliation for their poisoning of Tel Aviv's water supply.
Israel's strike triggers a worldwide nuclear holocaust
while the plane is en route to London, the USSR and China attacking America and its allies. Unable to continue to Europe due to the fact that it has suffered nuclear attack, or return to New York, the crew desperately attempt to find a place to land their plane.
Faced with dwindling fuel, and the destruction of the airfield at Funchal
by a desperate pilot disobeying landing instructions, Jonah and his crew wonder whether to crash land on an island in the Azores
chain with the help of Juan, a local resident who has contacted them via amateur radio. By pure chance, Jonah sights a NATO airfield, Lajes Field
, which has certainly been attacked, but which is mostly intact. Jonah and the nuclear scientists who are on board deduce that the Soviets needed Lajes intact and accordingly attacked it with a neutron bomb
. After seeing Eddie Burns, a survivor who was deep underground at the time of the attack, Jonah lands the plane at Lajes.
Rising levels of wind-swept fallout
from Europe require that they evacuate, and they decide to fly to Antarctica. But they do not know how many people they can carry if they must carry food and fuel as well. With Eddie's help, Jonah and the SAS soldiers on board manage to re-activate the base radar and use the teletype machine
s to make contact with a British naval officer in the Falkland Islands
who is able to confirm, at the expense of his life leaving a sealed room, with the McMurdo
Antarctic
base the existence of sufficient provisions, plus a nuclear reactor for warmth. There is more than enough for the survivors, and then...
A Russian Antonov
freighter aircraft lands at Lajes. It is initially mistaken for a Soviet troop transport to occupy Lajes. It is, however, stolen: carrying two female Soviet Air Force crew and a large number of civilian refugees. Next morning, after both aircraft are refueled, the survivors endure flying through an overcast layer of radioactive ash and byproducts on their way to Antarctica. There are more sacrifices when the Antonov cannot make the necessary altitude with the weight of cargo, passengers, and fuel: even after jettisoning everything, fifty Russian volunteers must sacrifice themselves by jumping from the plane's hatch, led by the co-pilot.
Soon after the characters arrive at McMurdo, it is realised that the tilt of the Earth on its axis has been affected by the numerous nuclear explosions
. There are two different endings of Down To A Sunless Sea which suggest either a radioactive death for all the survivors with a theological twist, or, more optimistically, a chance for the almost one thousand survivors to rebuild the world in not just warmth but also peace and cooperation.
David Graham (author)
David Graham was the pen name of Evan Wright , a British crime fiction author who is mainly remembered for his post apocalyptic novel, Down to a Sunless Sea.-As David Graham:*Down to a Sunless Sea *Sidewall...
's Down to a Sunless Sea (1979) is a post-apocalyptic novel
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
about a planeload of people during and after a short nuclear war
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
, set in a near-future world where the USA is critically short of oil. The title of the book is taken from a line of the poem Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in Christabel, Kubla Khan, and the Pains of Sleep in 1816...
by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
.
Plot summary
The story is told in the first personFirst-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
by Jonah Scott, a British pilot for the fictional airline Air Britain who has arrived in New York City on his regular flight from London. The United States has collapsed into the equivalent of a bankrupt Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
and borderline-starving country (1200 calories/day) after using up nearly all of its oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
reserves and a resultant collapse of the dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
. The taxi that Jonah and Senior Flight Attendant Kate Monahan take to the airline's NYC apartment is powered by methane generated from chicken droppings.
Kate is a lovely redhead, and Jonah is a "red-blooded male," and the book is full of Jonah's thoughts on the subject regarding Kate's lovely figure, as well as what they do together, in detail. Even after they each find other partners, Kate's assets are described quite clearly. It's a guy's book.
During the night, Jonah and the apartment superintendent and guard, John Capel, must fight off armed burglars disguised as military police looking for the food Jonah and Kate brought with them. Capel is wounded but Kate demonstrates her basic medical skills in cleaning and dressing the wound. Jonah offers to help Capel and a newly-orphaned girlfriend of one of his crew travel illegally to London aboard his aircraft.
Shortly after take off from New York, Jonah is informed that Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
has attacked Beirut, Damascus, and Cairo with nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s in retaliation for their poisoning of Tel Aviv's water supply.
Israel's strike triggers a worldwide nuclear holocaust
Nuclear holocaust
Nuclear holocaust refers to the possibility of the near complete annihilation of human civilization by nuclear warfare. Under such a scenario, all or most of the Earth is made uninhabitable by nuclear weapons in future world wars....
while the plane is en route to London, the USSR and China attacking America and its allies. Unable to continue to Europe due to the fact that it has suffered nuclear attack, or return to New York, the crew desperately attempt to find a place to land their plane.
Faced with dwindling fuel, and the destruction of the airfield at Funchal
Funchal
Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...
by a desperate pilot disobeying landing instructions, Jonah and his crew wonder whether to crash land on an island in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
chain with the help of Juan, a local resident who has contacted them via amateur radio. By pure chance, Jonah sights a NATO airfield, Lajes Field
Lajes Field
Lajes Field or Lajes Air Base , officially designated Air Base No. 4 , is a multi-use air field, home to the Portuguese Air Force Base Aérea Nº4 and Azores Air Zone Command , a United States Air Force detachment , and a regional air passenger terminal located near Lajes...
, which has certainly been attacked, but which is mostly intact. Jonah and the nuclear scientists who are on board deduce that the Soviets needed Lajes intact and accordingly attacked it with a neutron bomb
Neutron bomb
A neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon or weapon of reinforced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon designed specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation rather than explosive energy...
. After seeing Eddie Burns, a survivor who was deep underground at the time of the attack, Jonah lands the plane at Lajes.
Rising levels of wind-swept fallout
Nuclear fallout
Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
from Europe require that they evacuate, and they decide to fly to Antarctica. But they do not know how many people they can carry if they must carry food and fuel as well. With Eddie's help, Jonah and the SAS soldiers on board manage to re-activate the base radar and use the teletype machine
Teleprinter
A teleprinter is a electromechanical typewriter that can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point and point to multipoint over a variety of communication channels that range from a simple electrical connection, such as a pair of wires, to the use of radio and microwave as the...
s to make contact with a British naval officer in the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
who is able to confirm, at the expense of his life leaving a sealed room, with the McMurdo
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
base the existence of sufficient provisions, plus a nuclear reactor for warmth. There is more than enough for the survivors, and then...
A Russian Antonov
Antonov An-10
The Antonov An-10 was a four-engined turboprop passenger transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union.-Design and development:...
freighter aircraft lands at Lajes. It is initially mistaken for a Soviet troop transport to occupy Lajes. It is, however, stolen: carrying two female Soviet Air Force crew and a large number of civilian refugees. Next morning, after both aircraft are refueled, the survivors endure flying through an overcast layer of radioactive ash and byproducts on their way to Antarctica. There are more sacrifices when the Antonov cannot make the necessary altitude with the weight of cargo, passengers, and fuel: even after jettisoning everything, fifty Russian volunteers must sacrifice themselves by jumping from the plane's hatch, led by the co-pilot.
Soon after the characters arrive at McMurdo, it is realised that the tilt of the Earth on its axis has been affected by the numerous nuclear explosions
Effects of nuclear explosions
The energy released from a nuclear weapon detonated in the troposphere can be divided into four basic categories:*Blast—40-50% of total energy*Thermal radiation—30-50% of total energy...
. There are two different endings of Down To A Sunless Sea which suggest either a radioactive death for all the survivors with a theological twist, or, more optimistically, a chance for the almost one thousand survivors to rebuild the world in not just warmth but also peace and cooperation.