The Wreck of the Mentor

Description

Shipwreck sagas never lose their appeal. Eric Jay Dolin’s Wreck of the Mentor tells a true story of a whaling trip to Micronesia in the 1830s, joining his earlier enthralling tales
of adventures at sea. The Melton crew, comprising twenty-two mariners, set sail from England and enjoyied some weeks in calm waters, efore being struck by ferocious storms that caspsize the ship. Confronted by isolation and diminishing food supplies, the men struggle in the ocean of the Palau archipelago that reaches 450 miles between between Western New Guinea and the Philippines.

The mariners meet and soon learn that theindigenous community is not welcoming. Dolin, never one to mince reality, details the treatment of the men, with one beaten and
clubbed to death, and a starving mariner abandonned to the waves by the crew on an old canoe.

As well as a detailed record of the voyage and its aftermath, the book is generously illustrated with a selection including maps, drawings and photographs as well as detailing the history and natural history of the region. The Wreck of the Mentor is not for those who anticipate a relaxing, calm vacation read. It’s a rollicking good, instructive, awesome yarn, one of Dolin’s best yet.