On the Beach

On the Beach Summary | Chapter 1 Summary

On The Beach, written in 1957, is a story about a group of people spending the last six months of their lives waiting for the end of the world to arrive, casualties-to-be of radiation fallout from a nuclear war. The story takes place in 1961 in Melbourne, Australia, the southern-most city on the Australian continent. Numerous atomic bombs have detonated in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth and slowly, but steadily, the radiation fallout is moving into the Southern Hemisphere bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Soon every living person on the Earth will be dead. This story is about how they faced it.

Lt. Commander Peter Holmes of the royal Australian Navy, his wife Mary, and baby daughter Jennifer live in a bungalow in the country not far from Falmouth, Australia. It is just after Christmas and Peter and Mary have had a Christmas barbeque in the garden with friends. They went swimming in the ocean and participated in a sailing race. Both are quite sunburned and planning to stay covered up for the next couple of days.

Peter has an appointment at the Navy Department in Melbourne. He has not worked in seven months and is expecting to receive a new appointment for work; he is hoping for a posting to a ship again. Peter loves shipboard duty and misses working aboard a ship.

Peter and Mary have a small car, a Morris, which has not been used since the short war ended a year ago. They use bicycles to get around to town and to the local farm for their milk. Peter has rigged up a two-wheeled trailer that hitches to their bicycles and it is used as a baby carriage and grocery carrier.

Peter and Mary had been married six months when the war started. Peter was stationed onboard the H.M.A.S. Anzac. The war, "short and bewildering," started in the Northern Hemisphere and ended 37 days later with the last seismic record of explosion. After three months, the Anzac returned to Williamstown, Australia on the last of her fuel oil. Statesmen from the Southern Hemisphere gathered in conferences in Wellington, New Zealand to compare notes and assess the situation. Peter returned to Falmouth in his Morris and parked the car in the garage, and there it sat, fuel too short to justify using it for errands. All fuel oil came from the Northern Hemisphere and was now inaccessible.

Peter rides his bicycle and cart to the local farmer to get milk and cream. Food transportation is very limited and Peter and Mary have learned to make their own butter. Peter discusses his upcoming job with the farmer, Mr. Paul, and his concerns over the trouble his wife will have getting the milk in the future if he gets posted on a ship. Mr. Paul agrees to help Mary out by bringing the milk and cream to her home, and suggests to Peter that he, himself, could use a cart such as Peter has build; he would use the cart to take his wife into Falmouth instead of using his bullock cart which makes the round trip in seven hours. Before the war, it took twenty minutes to drive to town. Peter decides he will try to get the wheels needed to build a cart for Mr. Paul. Mr. Paul makes a reference to the fact "there's not long to go."

Peter takes his bicycle to the electric train station and parks it at the garage that no longer services cars. Bicycles are parked there now, and horses are stabled where the cars had been. Businessmen ride in from the country on their horses, attaché cases tied to the saddles. The tempo of business life has slowed down

Peter rides the train and thinks about the condition of the Royal Australian Navy. It consists of seven small ships converted from oil burners to coal burners. The aircraft carrier Melbourne is no longer in commission and aircraft fuel is very scarce so the training programs have been suspended. He longs for a posting to a ship but does not hold out much hope for this. He feels lucky the Navy has continued to pay him despite his inactivity for the past seven months.

Peter arrives in Melbourne and shops around till he finds tires for the cart he promised to make Mr. Paul. He then goes to the Second Naval Member's offices for his appointment. There, the Admiral advises Peter he has been posted to the U.S.S. Scorpion as liaison officer under Commander Dwight Towers. Peter has met Commander Towers before and he knows the history of Scorpion since the war.

The submarine Scorpion had been at sea patrolling between Kiska and Midway when the war began. While submerged they could not reach Pearl Harbor on the radio and atmospheric radiation levels increased the closer they got to the Philippines. Eventually all communication ceased with bases in the Northern Hemisphere. Radiation levels were way above lethal on their gauges and the submarine could not surface safely. Eventually radio contact was made with Port Moresby, New Guinea and Scorpion headed south to Yap Island and the United States cable station. There they found an American cruiser docked and heard about the Russian-Chinese war that had broken out, that in turn had come from the Israeli-Arab war, which had been initiated by Albania. Russia and China, both, used cobalt bombs. Contact with the United States was not successful. Eventually Mexico City was reached, but it quickly went off the air. Contact was next made with Panama, Bogotá and Valparaiso. The decision was made for all U.S. ships to sail into Australian waters and place themselves under Australian command. Eventually, nuclear fuel was prepared for Scorpion's use; she brought supplies of fuel to Rio de Janeiro to another stranded U. S. nuclear submarine, U.S.S. Swordfish; and returned to port in Melbourne for a refit in the dockyard.

Peter is excited about his posting as liaison officer under Commander Towers and the two cruises currently scheduled. However, Peter is worried about the potential that he might be gone during the last couple of months. What if the predictions of the "wise men" are wrong and the radiation reaches Melbourne sooner than originally forecast? Peter feels Mary and the baby will need him at home. The Admiral understands and agrees to his posting for only five months, until May 31. They will reevaluate at that point.

Peter then goes to the submarine Scorpion to check out his new surroundings. He meets Dwight Towers and gets a tour of the submarine. Peter and Dwight discuss the upcoming cruises. Peter invites Dwight to his home for the weekend before they all need to report to duty for the first cruise. Dwight agrees he could use a diversion and a swim and will come for a day.

Peter gets home and tells Mary about inviting Dwight Towers for the weekend. Mary goes into a panic about how they are going to entertain him. She reminds him of the RAF officer they had down for the weekend awhile back and how awkward it had been for everyone. The RAF officer was emotionally too fragile and cried at the sight of their home and baby. "They're never all right. It's much too painful for them, coming into people's homes." Mary decides to keep Dwight busy at swimming, sailing and a party; and Mary will invite a girlfriend of hers for the weekend, Moira. Moira has a reputation as a heavy drinker with loose morals. Their goal for the weekend for Dwight is "never a dull moment."

Moira and Peter meet Dwight at the train in her Jaguar XK 140, now pulled by a gray horse. Moira does prove to be a heavy drinker, double brandies; she had to give up gin for the sake of the lining of her stomach. Moira and Dwight actually enjoy each other's company and the afternoon progresses to the sailing club. Moira and Dwight enjoyed a wild sailing race, complete with Moira losing her bathing suit top and Dwight dumping them into the water. Never a dull moment, and Moira's glad Dwight has not burst into tears yet. The day is going pretty well so far. They head back to Peter and Mary's house for a party that night.

Dwight discusses his next cruise a little with Moira. They are heading to Port Moresby, Cairns and Darwin to check the radiation levels. No one has heard from anyone there for long while. We find in their discussion that no bomb was dropped in the Southern Hemisphere. The radiation clouds are expected to keep moving south until they eventually reach Melbourne. Nothing can be done to stop it; the winds will eventually bring it to them, and then all will die. Moira pouts that it is rather like waiting to be hung. Dwight suggests that perhaps it is a period of grace. Moira discusses her dreams to travel to France that will never happen now. She does not want to visit a city of dead people. Moira drinks too much and finally starts to cry herself about her lost dreams of marriage, children and travel. She mourns never marrying and having children. Even if she were to get pregnant now there would not be time for her baby to be born. Mary puts Moira to bed.