Navigating through life

Boxing The Compass: A Life of Seafaring, Music, and Pilgrimage
by Michael L. Hadley

Victoria: Heritage House, 2024
$29.95 /  9781772034738

Reviewed by Valerie Green

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Boxing the Compass is a lost art from the days when magnetic compasses were the primary aid to navigation.

Author Michael L. Hadley then explains to his readers that this was a technique for teaching steering commands to young seamen. Today, he states, the expression boxing the compass “is more likely to be used figuratively, in the sense of ‘getting one’s bearings’ or ‘making sense of one’s life’ – something I have been trying to do ever since.”

In that sense, the title of Hadley’s memoir is perfect. He steers his readers through various stages of his life that have always been connected to the sea, music, and education. His preface begins with: “A lighthouse, and a trumpet, a monastery, and a submarine. These strange bedfellows emerge among the many colourful threads woven into the texture of my life.”

Born in 1934, Hadley was part of the so-called “silent generation” who arrived between the post-depression and pre-baby boomers’ years. Now, in his late eighties, he has decided to talk about his interesting life and all the decades and experiences that have shaped him on his journey.

From his childhood years spent on a lonely lighthouse off the coast of Vancouver Island, to an adolescence spent as a member of the Kitsilano Boys Band on the British vaudeville stage, to a young marriage to Anita, the love of his life, the arrival of their children, to a naval career and time spent in the Foreign Service, to experiences as a scholar and educator, Hadley’s memoir is nothing short of outstanding.

Into his own remarkable life story, he manages to also weave world events in history over the past century, including many human conflicts, criminal justice reform and his own personal reflections as he travels the world from Canada to the United Kingdom, Germany, Uganda, and the Middle East.

His childhood was spent on the Pachena Point lighthouse where his father served as a radio operator. His father’s ancestry was German which accounts for Hadley’s keen interest in German history. His mother, Winnifred Sheppard, hailed from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, but she rarely spoke of her harsh, early life. She had journeyed west to Vancouver Island, an outstanding feat in itself, to be close to her brother, Llewellyn. Hadley grew up listening to tales of Newfoundland and the sea from his uncles. He relates many of these in the book with noteworthy humour.

Ancestry and family connections are strong throughout Hadley’s life and become apparent in every section of his memoir. These sections, ranging from the lighthouse days, musical interludes and travels as a teenage boy, his time at sea, his German studies, his foreign service years, the winds of change, a submarine experience, his spiritual quest and to his ‘signing off’ chapter, are sometimes long and involved and are written in considerable academic depth. Nonetheless, they are well worth reading and absorbing because they are full of traces of humour and reflections on this amazing thing called “life.”

“Reflecting on one’s life,” states Hadley, “is like taking a wonderful old book off the shelf from time to time to dust off and browse through at leisure.”What a delightful analogy of his incredible life. Naturally, as most of us might do this, he tends to go off course and ramble back and forth, but this is forgivable in Hadley’s memoir, because his ramblings and diverse paths are equally fascinating.

There is also a large collection of photographs in the memoir which add depth and colour to the story.

At the end of the final chapter in the book, the author states: “But what became of the little boy from Pachena? Or the young musician who played on Britain’s vaudeville stage, the professor in search of wisdom, or the pilgrim in search of Ultimacy. What became of the writer, the husband, father, and grandfather?”

He then quotes from the final pages of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit which give his readers a hint in answer to those questions: “He took to writing poetry and visiting elves; and though many shook their heads and touched their foreheads and said, ‘Poor old Baggins’ and though few believed any of his tales, he remained happy to the end of his days, and those were extraordinarily long.”

This is a book you will not regret reading. You will learn a lot. As you turn the last page, you will feel you have travelled the world with a man who can describe fascinating places and extraordinary people with a perceptive charm and a knowledge second to none. Readers are not being lectured. They are being told a story.

Michael L. Hadley is an award-winning writer, scholar, yachtsman, retired naval officer, lecturer, and world traveller. In November of 2023, he received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Maritime Achievement.

Boxing The Compass is a testament to his many life achievements.

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Valerie Green was born and educated in England, where she studied journalism and law. Her passion was always writing from the moment she first held a pen. After working at the world-famous Foyles Books in London (followed by a brief stint with MI5 and legal firms), she moved to Canada in 1968 and embarked on a long career as a freelance writer, columnist, and author of over twenty nonfiction historical and true-crime books. Hancock House recently released Tomorrow, the final volume of The McBride Chronicles (after Providence, Destiny, and Legacy). Now semi-retired (although writers never really retire!) she enjoys taking short road trips around BC with her husband, watching their two beloved grandsons grow up and, of course, writing. [Editor’s note: Valerie Green has recently reviewed books by Jason A.N. Taylor, Johanna Van Zanten, DL Acken and Aurelia Louvet, Carly Butler, Daniel Kalla, and John Delacourt for BCR.]

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The British Columbia Review

Interim Editors, 2023-25: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction and poetry)
Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an online book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, Maria Tippett, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

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