SOMETHING IN THE WATER, by Peter Scott, Down East Books, Camden, 2000, 301 pages, $14.95.

For history enthusiasts, Maine culture buffs, and those who just love an intriguing story, author Peter Scott has netted success.

With the ease of a natural storyteller and the knowledge of a former sternman on a lobster boat, Scott creates a rich World War II-era tale set on the coast near Stonington.

For Amos Coombs, a middle-aged lobsterman working quietly in a Barter Island cove, the German U-boat he spots in his fishing grounds is just another ghostly apparition he must confront. Living among the spirits of his deceased relatives and companions, Amos is the subject of his community’s derision and skepticism as he maintains his increasingly isolated abode.

The steadfast love of his 15-year-old grandson Gus is one of the few things that keep Amos rooted in the world of the living, if only to protect the young man from the very immediate threat of war. Those who care for Amos, including the Coast Guard men who maintain watch against the Germans, and the town schoolteacher, urge him to move beyond his fear of being ridiculed for the deadly threat he has witnessed, and into action.

Scott’s story flows with natural and complete detail through the waters of the Atlantic as the small community bands together to keep watch against U-boats in defense of the shores that are the means of their existence. His explanation of an older man’s increasing despair against the changing of the times is nonetheless buoyed with hope, nicely represented through the description of Amos’ time on the water teaching young Gus how to fish, and simple, everyday activities such as family meals and town dances. Supporting characters such as schoolteacher Maggie and Chief Petty Officer Jake Gardiner breathe life into the vivid small-town community that makes a crucial contribution to the story’s feeling of authenticity.

However, “Something in the Water” reveals more than just the patriotism of its era and the close-knit community of small-town Maine. Scott inserts references to racism, poverty and the rampant trade and consumption of rum. Curiously enough, he even brings us into the world of those who threaten access to Maine’s fishing grounds through passages told from the point of view of German military men.

Scott, who has also written “Lost Crusade,” and contributed to several magazines, effectively maintains tension throughout the novel with the careful dropping of clues about Amos’ past and the activities and motivations of his fellow islanders, revealing information when it becomes pertinent to the story’s progression. Reference to actual places on and around Maine’s coast provide special points of interest to those familiar with the area.

But this is the kind of novel that can fish beyond a local audience and catch the interest of any reader who is appreciative of good historical fiction. Insight into Amos’ heartbreaking relationships, the demons of gossip and alcohol, and the effective rendering of the basic human instinct to protect one’s home, even in the face of fear, bring “Something in the Water” into the safe harbor of excellent literature.