Tom Swift: Tauchfahrt ins Abenteuer

Tom Swift Jr. #2

by Victor Appleton II

The jetmarine, the second great invention of Tom Swift, takes the young inventor into a desperate battle with bold modern pirates who have been ravaging the sea lanes. Attacking with a sinister blackout weapon, the Sea Snipers have sent a passenger liner to the bottom — and Tom’s chief engineer is missing! The treacherous enemy pulls no punches in trying to wreck Tom’s atom-powered submersible, able to travel faster and deeper beneath the seas than any craft known to man. From the warm Caribbean to the coast of Portugal, the pace continues on and under the sea, in the air, in a haunting sea-bottom derelict, and in the raiders’ hidden sanctuary beneath the waves. Finally an audacious race to break the speed of sound underwater becomes a race against time to save America’s Atlantic coast from disaster!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Juvenile

Unknown Binding

First published June 1, 1954

About the author

see also Victor Appleton

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little flash back reading. I'm sure I would have loved every detail of this had I read it when I was a kid. As an adult, the cliffhangers were a little weak and too many coincidences and easy solutions to tough problems. But, hey, it's still a fun story and helps take me back for a moment to spending hours on rainy days lost in story book adventures.

[Philip Athans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the Tom Swift, Jr. book I had a copy of when I was a kid, and for reasons unknown never actually read. But I would stare at the illustrations, especially the cover, endlessly. Not sure why it took me something like 45 years to finally read it, but it was a hoot. Tom does it again!

[Suzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Rating: 2.75/5

Tom Swift is an 18 year old genius. He invents a lot of useful things, one of them being a jetmarine (submarine) he has developed for the government.

I was not a fan of this book. There are a lot of deductive leaps taken that make no sense. And since Tom Swift is so smart, everyone takes his word for everything.

There is a lot of adventure though. There's thievery on the high seas and Tom's uncle is kidnapped. But the ending! The stupidest thing I've ever read.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tom Swift, Jr., books were a fun, upbeat, and interesting adventure series published for kids from 1954 to 1971 that promoted science, fair-play, patriotism, and team-work; they were good, positive books. The series served as a sequel to the original Tom Swift series that appeared from 1910 to the beginnings of World War II; Tom and his sister, Sandy, are the children of the first Tom and his wife, Mary Nestor; Tom's girlfriend Phyllis Newton is the daughter of Tom Sr.'s sidekick Ned Newton (now Uncle Ned to Tom and Sandy); the family home is still located in Shopton along Lake Carlopa, etc. It's nice that the continuity is preserved rather than just being over-written as happened to The Hardy Boys; in the first Tom Jr., book beings make contact that were first hinted at in the final real Tom Sr., book, Planet Stone, and throughout the series references to the history are made such as naming a device the Damonscope in honor of a character from the first series, Mr. Wakefield Damon. In addition to the Swifts and Newtons, Tom Jr. has his own sidekick, Bud Barclay, and there are several interesting supporting characters such as Phil Radnor, Harlan Ames (I wonder if Harlan Ellison was the inspiration for the name?), Hank Sterling, Miss Trent (who I don't believe ever had a first name), and especially Chow Winkler, Tom's cook, a former "Texas chuck-wagon" cook who was given to a variety of wild and unlikely expressions such as, "Well, brand my space biscuits!" The earlier books had nice covers, end-papers, and illustrations: Graham Kaye and Charles Brey provided the art for the first twenty-five volumes, followed by Edward Moretz, after which the artistic (as well as the literary) quality starting going downhill. Tom invented and built many fantastic inventions (but remember it was the '50s and '60s), and had many exciting adventures along with his friends and family. They faced off against saboteurs and spies and the evil Brungarians but their good spirits and hard work and can-do attitude always paid off in the end. The continuity didn't always hold logically from book to book, and looking back it's easy to pick apart one thing or another, but they were fun and fine books in their time. This second volume has a neat cover that looks like a Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues scene. Dad and Uncle Ned are captured by pirates!

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic addition to the Tom Swift science fiction book series.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read this as a 13 year old. Very surprised and pleased to see that much of it holds up forty years later. Geez I'm old!

While atomic power is not a common source of energy for small craft, the basic principles can be adapted. What is really interesting, is the propulsion system of Tom's SEA DART. A version of that is used today, although I don't think it is nearly as efficient as that created by our title genius inventor.

There were fewer of the sometimes painful twists and turns YA books contained back then, which makes this a much more straightforward tale of modern pirates, how Tom finds them, and breaks up their organization.

A fun read for anyone, so ...

Find it! Buy it! READ IT!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sons sure have enjoyed my reading these 1950's books aloud to them at bed time. Not everything holds their interest (strangely, both The Hobbit and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [two of my absolute favorites] have had them bored, but perhaps it's time for me to try those again), so I find it interesting that these books, which I find a tad dull, are still capturing young boys' imaginations.

What I find most interesting about the Tom Swift books is that the science seems a bit behind the times now, yet totally plausible, and yet was certainly ahead of the curve in the mid-1950's. Certainly all the ramifications of using atomic energy were not clear, as evidenced by Tom's lacksidaisical use of uranium and atomic energy.

The chapters move along quickly, with great amounts of time passing in a single sentence. Nearly every chapter ends in a cliff-hanger, which always had my kids asking for the next chapter, even though it was well past bedtime. I can't help but groan, though, when one a chapter ends and it looks like complete ruin, danger, or death for Tom and his buddy, Bud Barclay, and the next chapter starts with the "genius" slapping his forehead and saying something akin to: "Sheesh, Bud, I forgot to flip this switch!" In this book, both boys are about to be crushed to death by a giant squid, deep in the ocean. They try to shoot it with a special Tom Swift underwater ray gun, and nothing happens! The next chapter actually begins with Tom realizing that the ray gun's safety was still on.

And aside from his intellect, Tom relied quite a bit on circumstance to get him out of harms way.

A fun read, and judging by my sons' reactions, still a recommended read as well.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the hundreds of adventure books for children by the Stratemeyer Syndicate (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew etc), the Tom Swift, Jr series of the 50s and 60s is one of the less remembered, at least to gauge by what turns up in used bookstores. I like them nostalgically because they are the ones I read as a kid and they exemplify the gee-whiz, better living through chemistry ethos. They are also noteworthy because the idea of an independent inventor, which was entirely eradicated by the 1980s via corporate science and government funding, still held sway when they were being written.
Not well written and framed almost entirely around stock characters with hardly a spark of intriguing personality, the books are amusing because Tom has always, just last week, invented the perfect gadget to get them out of whatever scrape they are in. This particular episode features the evil scientists bent on world domination who have an underwater laboratory in the Caribbean, predating Ian Fleming's Dr. No by several years.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a child and decided to read it again. I thought this book was great when I was younger. I think it is less great as an adult mostly because the technology is so dated, the characters are not well developed and the plot is obvious.

Note: It is obvious that the Jonny Quest TV series was inspired by the Tom Swift series if not stolen outright.

The Story: Pirates have been using a blackout ray to disable people so that the pirates can rob ships in the Caribbean. Tom Swift Jr.'s "Uncle Ned" has been kidnapped in one of these pirate raids and Tom must find the pirate base where they must be keeping his "Uncle Ned". (Ned is not really Tom's uncle but close to the family.) Once Tom gets is new atomic submarine working he will be able to protect shipping, track the pirates back to their secret lair and rescue his uncle.

Any problems with this story? The inventions that Tom Swift is using are not as good as a modern smart phone.

The atomic submarine is interesting, but not practical for the stated purpose which is to ferry people more easily from place to place in order to avoid delays due to storms. However, a two-man submarine, no matter the power, would not solve such a problem. In the end, the military was considering buying the submarine. That made sense... just barely. Also Tom seemed to take his sweet time looking at a sunken ship and then diving deep to observe the unusual activity of squids... all for science, while people's lives hung in the balance. That seemed odd and forced.

There is also a sense that science is always good, and that scientists should always be noble and selfless. FYI, I got that same sense from the book, "The Martian" by Andy Weir so it is hardly unusual. It is just that in the way Any Weir wrote it, it made more sense.

As I held the book in my hand I realized that I was running out of book before I had run out of story. The book ended suddenly as if the publisher had told the author "Just give us what you've got!" and he did. Happy ending for all but the bad guys, and (as if advertising) the next book in the series was named so that you wouldn't forget to run down to your local bookstore to get the next one.

I might read this book again, but only after a very long while and only for nostalgia's sake.

[Jack Deighton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Judging on the evidence of this and the previous Tom Swift book I read Appleton seems to have written his series to a template. Not a bad thing I suppose if your target market is pre-pubescent boys in the 1950s. Not so appealing to an adult 70 years on. But the cover is just so of its time I couldn’t resist it.

Here, the villains of the piece have been sinking ships in the Caribbean and Tom wants to find out who and how so as to stop them. This eventually leads him to an island off Cuba.

Again, the invention the book’s title suggests will be to the fore is not in fact deployed till late on with many diversionary incidents involving people wishing to hinder Tom in his activities. The titular jetmarine is in effect nothing more than a submarine. It’s said to have a revolutionary propulsion system drawing in water and then energising it to much greater speed. I’m still puzzled as to how that could possibly work. As written it sounds as if water goes out faster than it came in, which is impossible. Best not examine too closely.

Chef Chow appears again and I was much more struck in this “adventure” by the implicit (and most likely unconscious) racism in the writing – or at least the USian exceptionalism. I think my curiosity about Tom Swift and his inventions has now been sated.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

More adolescent adventures...bad guys, instant science, all purpose Tomasite, cliffhanger chapters, ... And I picked up three more last week, bringing my total to 19 of the 33 (with a line on maybe five more that I wasn't willing to pay the prices just yet.) As I work through several deep books, these are a good side trip.

[David Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading these books again as an adult for no particular purpose. These books are like clearing the palate between more heavy weight books.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read. Read the series when I was in my early teens.

[Gary Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but stupid.

[J. Boo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Swift, boy inventor, uses his amazing jetmarine (a submarine with an atom-powered jet propulsion system -- it was the fifties, after all), skill with fisticuffs, and a lot of authorial convenience to catch a group of dastardly pirates who hijack vessels with an airplane-mounted pseudo-scientific knock-out gun.

I thought it was pretty schlocky, but my four year old son was completely enthralled. This is second in the series, but there were no dependencies on the first. The book did require occasional explanations and summaries, but I think he was able to follow the plot fairly well. The in-book repetition and foreshadowing (Tom: I think that it is X! Later in the chapter: It is X!) helped keep it clear (or at least less murky) in his head -- a good thing since he was only getting a chapter or two a day at bedtime.

Me: 2.5 / 5
4yo DS: 5 / 5

Not being the target audience, I'll round it up to a 4/5 [... but see below]




UPDATE: He's now five, and we're re-reading it. My son has progressed to making fan art. I suspect it's been a while since poor Tom has received such accolades.

DD, now 3, remains bored senseless by Tom's adventures. Literally so - she'll sometimes fall asleep in the middle of a chapter. This amazing practical utility has earned the Jetmarine its coveted fifth star.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was my first Tom Swift Jr. book, a series I've wondered about since I was a kid. It's probably not fair for an old man to rate a children's book, especially with my being several decades removed from its publication. Still, as a reader, I've often enjoyed books written for younger readers of previous eras (Horatio Algers' Grit, is one recent example). But I found this book ridiculous, with its mix of quasi- and pseudo-science, contrived action scenes, and unbelievable scenarios (the U. S. Navy, cooperatively complying with the whims of a teenager?). The dialogue is awful, particularly the voices of Tom's friends Bud and Chow. Again, I don't review a book unless I've actually finished it, and the best thing I can say about this book is that it's a vast improvement over the original Tom Swift--I recently tried one of those and found it so awful that I quit reading around page 20.

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another Tom Swift, Jr. book that had been written in the 50's and updated for the '90's. An evil profoessor uses a submarine to hijack ships, and Tom uses his jet marine to foil the plans. In the end Tom uses a sub that can go faster than the speedof sound to keep the mad professor from hitting Cape Canaveral with a nuclear torpedo. Along the way Tom runs across a Russian nuclear submarine that went missing during the Cuban Missle Crisis and a modern-day Madam Blavatzky who is looking for Atlantis.

What is the most interesting about the newbooks is how gritty they are. In this story an innocent teen is murdered so the henchman of the evil professor can assume the young man's identity. The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Nancy Drw et al were like the A-Team where no one ever got killed.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though not great literature, this is a pretty good adventure story for children, perhaps especially boys. But I enjoyed it, too, and got into it more toward the end. The quirky, imaginative inventions are a big draw. Tom is also a brave, honorable, and resourceful young man (at least in this book of the series). There is a quick mention of aliens, which apparently Tom believes in and wants to make contact with (and does later in the series?), so that is disappointing. But with that explained by a parent, it could be something worthwhile to read.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book better than the first one in the series. There's lots of technical jargon and much action as the boy inventor invents new gadgets in the scientific field and takes science to new heights. They are Science Fiction stories for youthful readers. In this one Tom invents a submarine that is nuclear propelled and powered. As usual, there is an enemy- bad "pirates" who knock people out with a gas and then they board the ship and rob it. And of course Tom Swift wins.

[James Madsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a placeholder for the first two dozen books or so that I devoured of the Tom Swift, Jr. series while I was growing up. The four stars do indeed mean that I "really liked it," even though in retrospect the writing was pretty juvenile (and not just aimed at a juvenile audience). Nevertheless, this series remains one of the most potent and nostalgic reading memories of my childhood.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are horribly dated and probably won't interest adult readers, except for retro-sci-fi amusement. However, I read most of the series as a child, and I think children would still enjoy them.

[Robert Zaslavsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series was one of my childhood favorites. Rereading it is part of a literary trip down memory lane. This holds up surprisingly well. (Note: This is actually the second of the Tom Swift, Jr. series, published in the fifties.)

[Mattie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the whole book very dated and l reminiscent of watching 1940s television. this made it very unrelatable for me. However, I was reading this to Rowan, my 10 year old son, and he was engaged and liked the book very much. He is the one giving this book 4 stars.

[Matt Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as the first.

[Ronald]

read in summer of 1966

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn't get enough of this series in 4th and 5th grade.