If you missed the last one…
In previous posts we have talked about exiles and castaways in space, but where do all those ships end up? Well, borrowing from nautical fiction once again, they usually collect in some Sargasso-like space backwater. Of course, as with the slimy monsters of William Hope Hodgson and his famous bottleneck, there are usually unpleasant surprises awaiting those who venture into such nasty places. Edmond Hamilton was the first to capitalize on the expression “Sargasso of Space” but it shows up again and again.
The other version of this is not so much a shipwreck as a cemetery. The Interplanetary Graveyard is another way to express this theme. R. R. Winterbotham may have coined that. Graveyards are equally chilling places. It is where things go to die…or do they? (the readers of Weird Tales certainly know the answer to that one!) As the idea matures, the space graveyard becomes the cemetery world or junkyard planet.
“The Sargasso of Space” (Astounding Stories, September 1931) by Edmond Hamilton is often credited with inventing the spacesuit. At least the spacesuit as it will become. The crew of the Pallas end up in a “dead area” caught drifting between the gravitational pull of Neptune and the rest of the Solar System.
“Interplanetary Graveyard” (Amazing Stories, January 1939) by R. R. Winterbotham has the space ship Amphitryon caught in the gravitational pull of Procrustes. Oh oh! Another “dead spot in Space”!
“Interplanetary Graveyard” (Future Fiction, March 1940) by Edmond Hamilton has a cemetery on the Moon. Mark Raymond returns from a trip to Jupiter to find his love has died. But there are footprints coming from her grave!
“Sargasso of the Stars” (Planet Stories, Summer 1941) by Frederick A. Kummer Jr. gives us “The Spot was the curse of the Universe–a drifting Sargasso of vanished space-ships and soul-lost men.” Here at last is the theme coming into focus: a place in space where the old sea tales are repeated.
“The Beast of Space” (Comet Stories, July 1941) by F. E. Hardart has a giant cavern on the asteroid Moira filled with spaceships of every kind. Nat and his “beast” Digger find this Sargasso and a beautiful castaway.
“Sargasso of Lost Starships” (Planet Stories, January 1952) by Poul Anderson has Valduma, a siren who lures men to their destruction. She operates out of the Black Nebula, one of the first whirlpools of space.
“Sargasso of Lost Cities” (Two Complete Science-Adventure Books, Spring 1953) by James Blish is part of his Okies series. The Okie cities left Earth but now have returned. There’s only one problem — the Vegan monster!
“Pack Rat Planet” by Frank Herbert (Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1954) was expanded into Direct Descent (1980). As Space Opera matured the creepy Sargasso turned into entire planets dedicated to junk. In the Star Wars universe recently we saw convicts working on a junkyard planet. Frank Herbert’s Pack-Rat planet is not for wrecked ships but anthropological records.
Sargasso of Space by Andrew North (Andre Norton)(ACE Doubles, 1955) was the first of the Solar Queen novels. On the Planet Limbo the traders have to deal with space pirates. Norton was instrumental in moving Space Opera from the Pulps into paperbacks.
“The Graveyard of Space” (Imagination, April 1956) by Milton Lesser has asteroid miners trapped in the Sargasso, where everyone who goes thee is doomed.
Cemetery World by Clifford D. Simak (Analog, November December 1972 January 1973) has a group of Earthlings, not all human, traversing the cinder of what was once Earth. For more, go here.
Galaxy of the Lost (September 1973) by E. C. Tubb (as Gregory Kern) is a great example of a late-in-the-day Sargasso in space. Ships are disappearing and Cap and his crew go in search of the answer. Which proves to be a whirlpool in space that devours everything in its path. Can he find a way out of the pocket universe? (I’ll give you a hint. There are sixteen more books in the series.)
Conclusion
Whether you call it a Sargasso or a Graveyard is not really important. Bad things happen in such places, where the dross of the galaxy can collect. Whether its pirates or monsters or just plain trouble, our Space Opera heroes will always find adventure here.The spirit of sea stories lives on in interplanetary fiction. W. Clark Russell may have been a favorite of A. Conan Doyle:
Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the other was deep in one of Clark Russell’s fine sea-stories until the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of the sea waves. (“The Five Orange Pips”)
…but my money is always on the space version of the sea story by fine authors like those in this post. For a more recent example, try Jack Mackenzie’s “Roadblock”, a short story in the Void Eternal series.
Next time…The Sargasso of Space in Comics…
Glad to see you included Andre Norton! Started reading her stuff in junior high and recently reread pretty much everything I have by her.
I don’t think she gets the respect she deserves. She’s pigeon-holed as an author of juveniles [Heinlein wrote juveniles too, but no one holds it against him!]. While much of her output was named at what they call nowadays the “young adult” market, so was much of the fiction in the pulps, whose tradition she carried on. Also, her more grown-up fiction, like The Witch World, makes it clear she was not simply a kid’s writer.
If I live long enough, I imagine I’ll read my Norton collection again.
Amen, brother!
I read and reread The Sargasso of Space by Hamilton. Excellent story. Holds up well in a minimalistic way even now.