The Ghost Pirates... is a powerful account of a doomed and haunted ship on its last voyage, and of the terrible sea-devils (of quasi-human aspect, and perhaps the spirits of bygone buccaneers) that besiege it and finally drag it down to an unknown fate. With its command of maritime knowledge, and its clever selection of hints and incidents suggestive of latent horrors in nature, this book at times reaches enviable peaks of power.
The Liverpool to New York undersea tube is basically a large pneumatic tube. Built at the end of the 20th century, it has been up and running for three years when one of the tube's engineers confides to a friend that it is not safe. The friend is leaving for Europe in the tube the next day. When disaster strikes, there is only one survivor to tell the story.
Out of nowhere came these grim, cold, black-clad men, to kidnap three Earth people and carry them to a weird and terrible world where a man could be a giant at will.
The sun has died, as have the stars. Not a solitary light shines in the heavens. The days of light are nothing by a legend -- they are a story told to soothe children. The last millions of humans still live in their Last Redoubt -- but the end of their days is at hand.