"It is felicitous that Joan Druett should have found this story. She is one of our most readable historians. Her knowledge of maritime events is encyclopedic. And she can write: vividly. lucidly, accurately. |
Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the WorldOne Deserted Island Two Shipwrecks Two Dramatic Outcomes… In 1864 two ships were wrecked on remote and uninhabited Auckland Island, some 385 miles from New Zealand. Five seamen in the far south survive, astonishingly, for nearly two years before building a vessel and setting off in what would become one of the most courageous voyages of the sea. Twenty miles of impassable cliffs away on the same godforsaken island, nineteen other seamen succumb to utter chaos. Only three will survive. **************** There are several remarkable things about this book. Most importantly there is the masterly writing style. Even if I hadn't known the author also writes fiction (watch this space for reviews of her Wiki Coffin adventure series) I would have detected a novelist's combined economy of language and rich imagery right from page 1. The other things that hit me were: Why wasn't this incredible story already better known? And, how could two groups of mariners stranded on the same island at the same time behave so differently? And, how often could historical coincidences of the magnitude of the ones portrayed in this book have happened? (Oh yes, Titanic.) Joan Druett is a widely travelled New Zealander whose fiction and non-fiction is mostly of a nautical bent -- but any landlubberly instincts mustn't let that put you off. Rarely do I get to review a book that was so easy and approachable (I read it, avidly, in a coupla days) yet so intriguing, emotional, exciting and educational at the same time. Back in 1864 two sailing ships, the Grafton and the Invercauld, were wrecked within a few months of each other on Auckland Island, down south and pretty much at the edge of the world. Tiny, well, small, though it is, the island was too wild for the two crew of survivors to have been able to make any contact with each other. So their ordeals stretched on through endless, desperate months in isolation yet their lives and the way they coped with their situations could not have been more different. I'll not give anything more away. I'm too concerned that you rush off right now to buy it and see for yourself. Suffice to say, Druett is such a damned good writer that her descriptions of the minutiae of daily life, her characterisations, her descriptions of the landscape and her retelling of individual memoirs are even more riveting than the catalogue of ... of ... horrid stuff. It would seem, from some reviewers' comments I have seen, that Island of the Lost is better known (and greatly appreciated) in America. I urge all lovers of first-rate, shudderingly good yarns to change this statistic and buy it here, now -- in swags! Mick Ludden, Wairarapa Times-Age, October 6, 2007. ********************************** Reviewed by KIRKUS: April 1, 2007 Druett, Joan ISLAND OF THE LOST: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World Algonquin (304 pp.) $24.95 Jun. 8, 2007 ISBN: 1-56512-408-1 Swashbuckling maritime history reanimated by a noted naval enthusiast. Mystery writer and nautical historian Druett (Run Afoul, 2006, etc.) does great justice to the saga of two large ships, the Grafton and the Invercauld, both shipwrecked on the same remote South Pacific island in 1864. The first vessel, navigated by French gold miner Francois Raynal and skilled captain Thomas Musgrave, embarked on an adventurous, intrepid voyage southeast of Australia toward Campbell Island to collect a cache of silver-laden tin. Through hurricanes and sea squalls, the Grafton reached the island, but a sudden illness and inclement weather forced the ship to attempt a return to Sydney. In his journal, Musgrave wrote that on the journey home, the sea looked “as if it were boiling.” Swallowed by an immense storm, the schooner was pounded into the jagged reefs of uninhabited Auckland Island. Its crew scrounged for shelter and food (sea lion and bird flesh, pungently described) ashore, with a plumb view of the Grafton’s rain-soaked wreckage looming as a grim reminder. Through months of navigating rugged terrain, fighting raw conditions and swarms of stinging sand flies, the castaways worked together utilizing wood from the ship’s hull to erect a cabin. Meanwhile, Scottish square-rigger Invercauld, bound for South America with a crew of 25, was being ripped apart by the perilous reefs on the other side of Auckland Island. After a year and a half, the resourceful Grafton crew built a small vessel and sailed to New Zealand; the Invercauld crew, whittled down to three survivors, had to be rescued by a passing Spanish vessel. Druett excels at recreating the men’s struggles and desperation (tempered by boundless hope) with extensive quotations from their journals. She also offers engaging biographical information on the castaways, descriptions of the island’s animal population and general historical detail. Depicted with consistent brio, stormy seas become epic events. . . . www.kirkusreviews.com |
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