Land that Time Forgot (1924)
By Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875 – 1950)
Edgar Rice Burroughs novel about a World War
1 era sea adventure/science fiction novel about a US vessel, torpedoed by a German
submarine begins in the Atlantic Ocean. The American vessel is sunk by the German war vessel, but the narrator (Bowen J. Tyler) is rescued by a
British vessel. The British vessel is promptly sunk by the German submarine, but the surviving crewmembers are able to overpower the German crewmembers and control the submarine. Unfortunately, any allied warship that the German submarine encounters assumes that the sub is belligerent. British warships fire on the German vessel.
The British crew of the German vessel must not only contend with their German prisoners, but also any allied warship that may be hunting them. The unfortunate vessel cruises southward and a series of mutinies, recaptures and sabotages leave the submarine in dire straights. Low on fuel, poisoned food, no friendly place to disembark, and hopelessly lost, the vessel drifts to the South Atlantic. Eventually, the vessel finds its way inland into a previously unknown land. The vessel makes its way up a river, but immediately strange sounds are heard. The sounds came from large creatures that are thought to have been extinct. These creatures turn out to be extremely dangerous and would like nothing more than to have the crew for a quick meal.
The crew, in need of provisions and fuel, is forced to land. After encounters with the dinosaurs and primitive men, the British and Germans reach a truce. The rivals are to combine forces and try to find a way to safely manufacture fuel, gather food and leave the island. Once off the island, they will make their way to a neutral port and part ways.
During their stay on the island, the group builds a strong fortress (fort Dinosaur) that would be their home and protection from the powerful creatures on the island. They gather stores and begin to manufacture the fuel necessary to power the sub and take them to safety. Unfortunately, the German officers betray the British and secretly developed the fuel. The Germans take control of the submarine, and with full fuel tanks and a large stock of food, they leave the island. The Germans, as a parting gift, fire on the British with the submarine’s deck guns and destroys the fortress. The surviving British are hopelessly scattered and have no hope of leaving the island.
The short novel ends with the narrator and a female passenger (Lys La Rue) being the last survivors. No ammunition for their weapons remains and they have no hope of leaving the mysterious land. Tyler and La Rue become man and wife and plan on spending their remaining days alone on the island together. Their only hope is a note written by Tyler and cast adrift in the ocean in a bottle.
This book by Burroughs was made into a movie in 1975. Doug McClure starred as the narrator, Bowen Tyler. This work was the first part of Burroughs “Caspak” series. “The People that Time Forgot” and “Out of Time’s Abyss” complete the trilogy.