William Lay

"an event occurred...the cold blooded and obstinate cruelty with which it was perpetrated, has not often been equalled',, 10 March 2015

This review is from: A Narrative of the Mutiny on Board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, January, 1824 (Paperback)
An interesting eye-witness account by two sailors on the ill-fated Globe whaling ship in 1823. After several of the original crew absconded in the Sandwich Isles (Hawaii), they took on replacements, several of whom joined ringleader Samuel B Comstock - a boat-steerer and officer - in a violent mutiny involving an axe and a blubber knife.
Under Comstock's direction, the surviving crew made for the Mulgrave islands (part of the Marshall islands) - having all forcibly signed a promise that they would fight any ship that came near, on pain of being boiled in oil. A handful managed to sail away on the Globe and alert the authorities, but of those remaining, only the two authors survived their 22 months in an alien culture.
Lay and Hussey were largely kept apart by the suspicious natives, and there are two separate accounts of their experiences on these impoverished islets, among generally well-meaning locals...although with moments of fear for their safety.
Written in plain English, as if for a report, I nonetheless found the whole account, of a remote part of the world, of real interest.
Free download on Project Gutenberg.… (més)