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The book "On the beach" by Nevil Shute tells about the time after the third world war, which was mostly fought between Russia, China and America. There were also some smaller countries involved. The first hydrogen bomb was dropped by Albania on Naples and other followed. The Russians sent bombers from Cairo to Washington and London. After that only a few statesmen were still alive. The war increased and a lot of hydrogen bombs were dropped.
After some time the whole northern hemisphere was destroyed. No human life could exist there. The book is set in South Australia two years after the war in the year 1963. Peter Holmes is posted as liaison officer in USS Scorpion.
He goes to see his captain Dwight Lionel Towers in the submarine. After a little conversation he invites him to stay the weekend at his home. After telling this his wife Mary she calls Moira Davidson to help enjoying the captain. When he arrives they go swimming and he is sailing a race with Moira on the Holmeses boat. For the evening Mary has organized a party. Later Dwight and Moira are staying on the veranda, talking about the actual situation of radioactivity.
After some drinks Moira tells Dwight all her sorrows about never having a baby because there are only six months until the radioactivity would have come down to this parts of the world. Then she collapses and Mary takes her to bed. At the next morning Dwight Towers goes to church and thinks about his family in Mystic. Back at Williamstown harbor the scientist John Seymour Osborne joins his crew.
The first trip in this submarine under Australian command starts at Melbourne and goes on to Kangaroo Islands, Port Adelaide, King-Island, Port Philip Bay and back to Melbourne. After this little course, where they met another American ship, Dwight invites Moira to come down to the submarine. When Moira changes her clothes so not to make them dirty she recognizes a photo of Sharon, Helen and Junior in Dwight's cabin. From the First Naval Member Dwight receives the report of USS Swordfish, the other US submarine, and obtains order to look after radioactive conditions in North Australia.
At Cairns the radiation level cannot allow to go on deck. In Port Morseby and Port Darwin are the same conditions. Three days after Port Darwin they surfaced and receive fresh air. When he is on leave Dwight and Moira are going dancing and sailing with the Holmeses. They are talking about the Swordfish's cruise. Dwight tells Moira about his family, as if they were alive.
Next morning Moira and Dwight are going to church. When they come back, they find Peter and Moira planning their garden for the next years. After swimming Moira recognizes holes in Dwight's socks. She offers to mend them and invites him to come to her fathers farm, bring everything that needs mending and stay for a couple of days. He agrees and went down to the farm after he took all his clothes that need to be mended.
They are talking in the evening and he helps Moira's father with the farming the next days. In a shed he finds Moira's old toys. Peter goes down to town and mentions the Jorgenson effect, which says that the rain washed the air and so the radioactive dust cannot be bought down to Australia by the wind, to John, but he does not believe it. On his way home Peter asks a chemist what to do about the radioactive illness, but he cannot give him an answer. He shows him how to kill himself and the baby if things are getting too bad. At home he gives Mary the play pen he brought for Jennifer and told her how to use the tablets and injection.
She becomes angry when he tells her how to kill the baby and goes to bed. When he comes in a bit later she excuses for her behavior. On board of Scorpion they are talking about signals from somewhere near Seattle, which are indecipherable, like from a kid. They conclude, that there must be power somewhere. When Dwight and Moira are meeting for lunch she tells him, that she is doing a typing and shorthand writing course.
Later Dwight goes to town and buys a rod for his son and a bracelet for his wife. He cannot find a Pogo stick for his daughter and Moira promises to procure one for him until he comes back. On the next cruise which intends to be a longer one they find signals at latitude five north. Yeoman First Class Ralph Swain, the radio operator, jumps off the boat when he sees his home town.
They cannot persuade him to come back. He tells them that he wants to die in his home town. They go on and stop at Elliot Bay. Lieutenant Sunderstrom goes out to find the transmitting signal. He finds the transmitting key laying underneath a frame that rested above it, teetering in the wind. He removes it and sends a message to Australia.
After switching of the station he goes back to the submarine. After twenty-seven days without fresh air they surface again near Norfolk Island. They have disproved the Jorgenson effect when they went up to Dutch Harbor. This was the last cruise of the USS Scorpion, because there are so few weeks left to live.
Because the USS Swordfish at Montevideo is out of order Dwight Towers becomes admiral. Back in Melbourne Dwight receives a flu and Moira takes him home and calls the doctor. He tells him that he has to stay in bed for a while. Moira gives him a Pogo Stick with Helens name on it. When Dwight is healthy again, Moira, the Holmeses and he go to see John driving his Ferrari in a race. From eleven starters three finish the race.
Three are killed. In an accident John has got, one driver is killed. When Peter and Dwight go to see Johns Ferrari he tells them about some cases of radioactive illness in Canberra. The radioactive dust is coming nearer and the Grand Prix starts a week earlier. John is going to win it. In the last month there is petrol again from privet reserves.
While Dwight and Moira are going fishing they are talking about their relation, and both agree that they do not want a love story. Peter and Mary are going to Melbourne and buy a motor mower, even if there are only a few more weeks to live. Back on his ship Dwight tells his crew that if anyone comes back from leave late or drunken he would be dishonorable discharged. In the end Dwight Towers takes his ship out of Australian command. John Osborne's mother kills herself when he is away to procure some milk for her. He kills her dog and lays it down beside her bed.
Then he packs his suitcase and leaves the house. After a few days in the hotel he becomes sicker and sicker. He goes to his Ferrari, puts the helmet on, hangs the goggles round his neck, climbs into the seat and takes the tablet to kill himself. The Holmeses all get it at the same time.
Until that time Mary does not believe that she is really going to die. She buys mothballs to keep moths out of their clothes. Peter buys her a garden seat like she always wanted. Soon they all become very ill.
Jennifer is even to weak to cry. At last Peter gives the baby the injection and he and Mary take the tablets. Moira says the last good bye to their parents and drives to the harbor. There she asks if Dwight can take her in the ship, but he refuses. He has to sink the ship in Bass Strait and tells her that he sees his death as a going home to Mystic in Connecticut and she wants him to tell Sharon all about her. They say good bye and the submarine leaves the harbor.
She drives along a highway and parks at a place where she can see the sea. She observes the ship and knows, that Dwight is standing on the bridge. Even if she knows that he cannot see her she waves to him until the ship disappears in the mist. She sits down in the car, drinks a brandy, murmurs the Lords Prayer and takes the tablet.
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Research essay sample on Fresh Air Good Bye
