In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.94 (817 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1565123476 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-11-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
On May 25, 1841, the Massachusetts whaleship Sharon set out for the whaling ground of the northwestern Pacific. A year later, while most of the crew was out hunting, Captain Howes Norris was brutally murdered. After more than a century of silence, the true story of one of history's most notorious mutinies is revealed in Joan Druett's riveting "nautical murder mystery" (USA Today). An American investigation into the murder was never conducted--even when the Sharon returned home three years later, with only four of the original twenty-nine crew on board. Single-handedly, the third officer launched a surprise attack to recapture the Sharon, killing two of the attackers and subduing the other. When the men in the whaleboats returned, they found four crew members on board, three of whom were covered in blood, the other screaming from atop the mast. Joan Druett, a historian who's been called a female Patrick O'Brian by the Wall Street Journal, dramatically re-creates the mystery of the ill-fated whaleship and reveals a voyage filled with savagery under the command of one of the most ruthless captains to sail the high seas.
Native New Zealander JOAN DRUETT is the author of eleven books on maritime history and historical fiction. She was a consultant for the award-winning "Seafaring Women" exhibition and has appeared as a guest speaker at maritime museums across the country. She has been the recipient of a PEN/Hubert Church Award, a Fulbright Fellowship,
Howes Norris by South Pacific Kanaka tribesmen. By any measure, the expedition was a catastrophe, with mutiny, desertion and the mid-voyage murder of Capt. She's more interested in plumbing the "crucial questions" that "lurk unanswered," foremost among them: what caused the severe discontent among the crew? The answer turns out to be, unsurprisingly, Norris's beastly and sadistic treatment, mainly his frenzied persecution of black steward George Babcock. "It is probably no coincidence," Druett writes, "that Captain Ahab found disaster in
The Darker Side of Whaling greenpete Whaling as romantic adventure has been with us since before Herman Melville put pen to paper. Even today, amidst a reassessment of the brutality of whale killing and its ecological impact, we still maintain a peculiar nostalgia for the days of the sail ship and harpoon. "Moby-Dick" is a least partially to blame for this.Joan Druett's "In the Wake of Madness" is a powerf. "Great adventure" according to ann smith. I very much enjoyed this book for its authentic and masterful retelling of the whaling ship Sharon and her crew. There is insanity and heroism, and ports of call beyond description for their beauty and mysticism. I will recommend to readers of history of nautical adventures.. Sadist On The High Seas Bruce Loveitt Joan Druett adds her name to the growing list of authors who have, in the last few years, tackled the topic of seafaring misadventure. We have had several excellent entries in this genre, including Nathaniel Philbrick's "In The Heart Of The Sea" and Mike Dash's "Batavia's Graveyard." Joan Druett's book is not quite on the level of those two books- they are "richer" in t