Joan Druett

May, 1841. Capt. Howes Norris, a veteran whaler has been given charge of the Sharon. With him are his brother-in-law Nathan Smith and Smith's first cousin Thomas Smith Jr. as second and first mates respectively. Benjamin Clough is third. But it's slim pickings for crew selection, but the rest are greenhands or sailors with no experience with whaling. Putting their complete trust in Norris, none of the men have any idea of the blotch on his record or of his darker nature. After a year of minimal success, no socializing with passing whalers and the barest of provisions, desertion is inevitable. It was then that a "direful madness" began to take hold of Norris. It was a horror unlike any of them had ever experienced and leads to unrelenting chaos. In the aftermath, mystery abounds and secrets are taken to the grave.

I'm glad I read this one in October, because it is brutal. It reads like an intense thriller. This is the kind of true crime that podcasts are made of. The 8-month long, calculated murder of the "mulatto" Babcock will haunt you. Druett posits that racism "could well have been an element in Norris' appalling mistreatment" but I have no doubt it was. Overall it's a very lean narrative and I'm not sure why Druett didn't provide more context. Druett mentions the Globe mutiny (which I also read) and other, similar violent episodes at sea, but I can't stress enough how rare this is. Mutiny and murder on a whaling voyage could doom the whole crew, esp. if one is out in the middle of the Pacific. Not at length perhaps, but 19th c. racism in New England, the isolation, the community pressure to succeed and years at sea away from loved ones also could've been discussed. Druett relies very heavily on the journals of Clough and Andrew White, but there's plenty of dramatic flair!… (more)

Possibly born in Cleveland in 1828 or 1829, Capt. Hayes may have joined the U.S. Navy and may have been court-martialled. Either way, we meet him in Amoy in 1853. From there it's a non-stop life on the run, swindling mariners and odd jobs. From freighting Chinese indentured laborers, to a string of marriages, bankruptcy and commanding several ships sometimes for no longer than a year. He joins a vaudeville Buckingham troupe as their manager, loses an ear and returns to 'blackbirding' that is, slave trading natives to island plantations. Despite all this, he earns a reputation as a charming swashbuckler which appears wholly undeserved. Even his death is debatable but the newspapers refuse to let their moneymaker disappear.

Separating facts from fiction can be very difficult when the "facts" are only hearsay, contracts on record, court dates and receipts. The result is a read that does not live up to such an eye-catching title. The scattered information definitely affects the pacing. Hayes is certainly not the "last of the buccaneers" and definitely not the "Pacific's pirate," that's Zheng Yi Sao. A bigamist, dodging numerous creditors, he comes off as a background character, popping up in other, more interesting lives. I ended up learning more about the family troupe, Australian geography and the Chinese labor trade. I was disappointed, but it's tough to write an engaging biography with little information. Although Rebecca Simon's "Pirate Queens" was amazing and we know even less about Mary Read and Anne Bonny!… (more)

This is the first of a series of novels set in the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838. Wiki Coffin is a Pacific Islander partially raised by his father, an American sea captain. Wiki is attached to the expedition as a linguist, due to his facility with Pacific Islands languages.

At the outset, Wiki is waiting for an appointment by a river when he is surprised by someone shooting. He sees a dead woman in a boat, and drags her to shore. When the sheriff arrives, Wiki is the immediate suspect, but is soon cleared. As the expedition departs, the sheriff deputises Wiki to continue the investigation to find out if the woman's killer is on board.

I enjoyed this story. It reminded me of the Aubrey-Maturin novels, only with a murder mystery at its hear. Druett seems to have done her research very well, with none of the clangers you sometimes get in historical fiction. As a mystery, it also worked quite well too, with a few twists and red herrings, and a decidedly original protagonist.… (more)