"I loved the sudden harsh twists in the tale. Joan Druett pulls off an unlikely feat: she delivers both a primer on 19th century whaling, complete with Moby-Dick resonances, and a genuine nautical thriller, a page-turner. She takes us along on this doomed voyage, building to a climax that is shocking and ... very satisfying in an Old Testament sort of way."
-- Richard Zacks, author of The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd.
Selected Works
Biography
The story of the extraordinary -- but unacknowledged -- Polynesian who ensured the success of Cook's first discovery voyage
Castaway drama
A gripping tale of two starkly contrasting castaway experiences
Controversial castaways of Campbell Island
The ordeal of the castaways, and the political fall-out that followed their rescue
Wiki Coffin Mystery #1
Murder most foul in Portsmouth, Virginia, is solved in the middle of the Atlantic.
Wiki Coffin Mystery #2
Pirate-hunting on the coast of Brazil
Wiki Coffin Mystery #3
Wiki Coffin must clear his father's name of murder in this third seafaring mystery set aboard the U.S. Exploring Expedition.
Wiki Coffin Mystery #4
Contracted to track down the man who stole a sealing schooner, instead Wiki Coffin finds a skull at the foot of a sacred Gualichu tree in the stark hinterland of the Rio Negro, and joins the Patagonian gauchos to solve a grotesque murder
Wiki Coffin Mystery #5
A murderous encounter in the icy seas south of Cape Horn
Revenge at Sea
Murder and rebellion on the whaleship Sharon.
Women Under Sail
Captains' wives at sea.
Quick Links
The Mystery Place
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Random House New Zealand
Publishers of TUPAIA, THE REMARKABLE STORY OF CAPTAIN COOK'S POLYNESIAN NAVIGATOR
In the Wake of Madness
I belong to a country that is known as “the Polynesian capital of the world,” where every Maori tribe can trace its origins to one of the seven huge canoes that colonized the uninhabited islands of New Zealand. As a child, I inherited Polynesian legends and superstitions; like my school mates, I readily believed in kehua, ‘atua— ancestor ghosts—and knew about tapu and sacred ground. I was raised in the ambience of Oceania.
That’s why, when I first began research on the grisly fate of Captain Howes Norris of the whaleship Sharon, who was hacked to death on his own quarter deck by three Pacific Islanders, who then tried to run away with the ship, I knew that most of the story had not been told. For over a century the accounts had been focused on the heroism of the young third mate, who had singlehandedly recaptured the Sharon, but no one ever investigated the forces that had driven the natives to their desperate act.
I found the answer in two journals and a long letter written on board the ship. The first was a journal kept by the ship’s cooper, Andrew White. My heart hammered as I read his misspelled descriptions of some of the most violent events on board. His grim revelations were too horrifying to believe at first, but opened up awful possibilities. Then, through the generosity of the third mate’s descendants, I read the private journal kept by the hero of the recapture—and uncovered the terrible truth of the tragedy of the Sharon.
That’s why, when I first began research on the grisly fate of Captain Howes Norris of the whaleship Sharon, who was hacked to death on his own quarter deck by three Pacific Islanders, who then tried to run away with the ship, I knew that most of the story had not been told. For over a century the accounts had been focused on the heroism of the young third mate, who had singlehandedly recaptured the Sharon, but no one ever investigated the forces that had driven the natives to their desperate act.
I found the answer in two journals and a long letter written on board the ship. The first was a journal kept by the ship’s cooper, Andrew White. My heart hammered as I read his misspelled descriptions of some of the most violent events on board. His grim revelations were too horrifying to believe at first, but opened up awful possibilities. Then, through the generosity of the third mate’s descendants, I read the private journal kept by the hero of the recapture—and uncovered the terrible truth of the tragedy of the Sharon.
Recent praise from a reader:
Dear Ms. Druett,
I just finished this. I am deeply moved. I read sea stories for entertainment, and have always accepted that the lot of people in old times was often very hard, and didn't worry about it. And you have made this a very entertaining story. But you have caused me to feel for these people, especially poor George Babcock. I don't think I will ever forget him, or ever read a whaling story without remembering him and Captain Norris. Thank you.
Edmund
Dear Ms. Druett,
I just finished this. I am deeply moved. I read sea stories for entertainment, and have always accepted that the lot of people in old times was often very hard, and didn't worry about it. And you have made this a very entertaining story. But you have caused me to feel for these people, especially poor George Babcock. I don't think I will ever forget him, or ever read a whaling story without remembering him and Captain Norris. Thank you.
Edmund