In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon

Rating:
Summary: 19th Century Whaling - Loss of Your Romance Innocence
Review: I received this volume from my daughter for Christmas just for 4 days ago. I asked if she had read it or knew it to be a good read. She said no, but she knows I have an interest in whaling and my love for Melville's Moby Dick (both the book and the original film with Peck, Wells, Basehart, & Genn). I gobbled this book up in 2 sitting in 2 days by the woodstove and a measure of two of rum.

This text covers subjects untouched in Moby Dick and educates the reader of many of the generally prevalent practices of crew desertion and replacement by beachcombers (castaways or other deserters) and island natives, as well as the asylum sought out by ex-slaves on whalers. The reality of the interrelationships of shipmasters, officers, and mates all hailing from New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket interact with the pride (or shame) and prestige associated with a 3- to 5-year voyage all play an intricate role in how a ship and crew are exploited in hte interest of filling the hold with sperm whale oil.

Druett lays out many of the gruesome facts in the preface; this is not a "who done it" so much as an introspective look at what occurred and what was logged (and by whom) about events on the whaler Sharon (1841-1845).

I call it a text, not a novel, because of its educational commentary and with oft-times seemingly legal asides that provide precedent for and explanation of common whaling voyage events (social, disciplinary, and the taking and rending of whales). Darker than Moby Dick because it's true and more shocking than Moby Dick because Ahab's twisted mind and actions were obviously not something unique to the fictitious Pequod. A respected family man ashore on Martha's Vineyard but also a sadistic, single-minded, tyrant on the sea.

Be prepared to view Mystic Seaport, the Charles W. Morgan, New Bedford, Vineyard Haven, Edgartown, East Chop, Farihaven, and Nantucket a bit differently - that is - your perspective widened, your eyes opened, and a bit of romantic innocence will be lost forever if you turn these pages.

Rating:
Summary: Sadist On The High Seas
Review: Joan Druett adds her name to the growing list of authors who have, in the last few years, tackled the topic of seafaring misadventure. We have had several excellent entries in this genre, including Nathaniel Philbrick's "In The Heart Of The Sea" and Mike Dash's "Batavia's Graveyard." Joan Druett's book is not quite on the level of those two books- they are "richer" in their narrative drive and complexity- but "In The Wake Of Madness" is still a good, solid "read." The author points out that at the time of the mutiny on the whaleship "Sharon," people who were not on board the ship assumed that the South Sea Islanders who killed Captain Howes Norris did so because they were "cannibals" and "heathens." The people who had direct knowledge of the events preceding the mutiny did nothing to dispel this notion- to do so would have raised questions concerning their own active or passive complicity in Norris's actions and could have damaged the careers of some highly ambitious ships' officers. It turns out that Captain Norris had, over a long period of time, systematically beaten and abused an 18 year old crew member (and apparent fugitive slave) named George Babcock. A combination of floggings and backbreaking labor finally resulted in the death of Babcock. Worse still, it appears that Norris knew, way before the final denouement, that his actions would result in Babcock's death. It was the result he was looking for. Druett speculates on the motivation(s): racism, anger/fear (Norris had had trouble keeping control over his crew on a prior voyage on a different ship), frustration (the "Sharon" was having very bad luck finding and catching whales), etc. Of course, harsh discipline was nothing unusual on board ships at the time. But Norris seems to have been especially brutal, even by 19th century standards. Babcock at one point tried to get help from his fellow crewmembers, as he feared for his life. His mates did try to protect him, before finally yielding to the authority of the captain and his officers. Why did the officers support the captain? We have to remember that a captain was sovereign of his ship. Going against his wishes could result in being branded a mutineer...not exactly good for your career. In any event, it appears that the South Sea Islanders who killed Captain Norris were either similarly abused or felt that, given enough time, they would suffer the same fate as Babcock. "In The Wake Of Madness" works as both an adventure story- as Mrs. Druett describes the recapture of the "Sharon" by her crew- and as something broader- as we learn a bit about the day-to-day operation of a whaling ship and of the cultural dynamics that came into play when New England whalers met Pacific Islanders. Stopping off at the islands was a bit like playing "Russian Roulette." On some islands, the natives were very friendly and would provide women and food for trade goods (although they did have a propensity for stealing anything made of iron that wasn't nailed down). On other islands you could run into cannibals or natives who would murder the crew and steal the ship. Not infrequently, some crewmembers who felt misused would jump-ship at some friendly port-of-call and "go native" or try to "sign-on" with another whaling ship with a more easy-going captain. We also learn a little about life back home on Martha's Vineyard. The book seems a bit abrupt and frantically paced, with Mrs. Druett attempting to juggle all this in only 230 pages. Still, this is a generally well-written, interesting book, and worth your time.

Rating:
Summary: The Criminal Captain
Review: Joan Druett's "In the Wake of Madness" joins the glut of recently published worksks about historical nautical disasters and mutinies that are lining the bookshelves these days. The quality of these books varies widely, but fortunately Druett's is both well-researched and well-written. The story of the ill-fated 1841 voyage of the whaleship Sharon is fairly grusome in its details. The ships's captain, Howes Norris, a respected member of the Martha's Vineyard community, became increasingly mentally unhinged, turning on members of his crew with savage fury. Things came to a head when he literally beat his cabin steward to death in front of the crew. Not long after, Captain Norris was himself savagely murdered by several Pacific islander crew members that had been picked up as replacements for deserters from the original crew.

All of this Druett recounts with prose that is elegant and highly readable. Throughout, she intertwines the story of the Sharon with that of Herman Melville, the "Moby Dick" author who had sailed on a whaling ship and was starting his writing career at around the same time. She describes the awful conditions that the whaleship crews labored under and throws in enough historical backdrop to frame the story.

If the book has a drawback, its that there were no surviving firsthand accounts of Captain Morris's death. Most of the book draws on never-published journals kept by two of the crew members. Unfortunately, both journals have signifcant gaps in them, which Druett attempts to fill with other contemporary accounts of whaling vessles. For the most part, she succeeds, though the book could also have used an illustrations section. At 230 pages of narrative, it is a relatively fast read.

Overall, an excellent work of narrative nautical history that will appeal most strongly to those who love good sea adventure tales.

Rating:
Summary: The Criminal Captain
Review: Joan Druett's "In the Wake of Madness" joins the glut of recently published worksks about historical nautical disasters and mutinies that are lining the bookshelves these days. The quality of these books varies widely, but fortunately Druett's is both well-researched and well-written. The story of the ill-fated 1841 voyage of the whaleship Sharon is fairly grusome in its details. The ships's captain, Howes Norris, a respected member of the Martha's Vineyard community, became increasingly mentally unhinged, turning on members of his crew with savage fury. Things came to a head when he literally beat his cabin steward to death in front of the crew. Not long after, Captain Norris was himself savagely murdered by several Pacific islander crew members that had been picked up as replacements for deserters from the original crew.

All of this Druett recounts with prose that is elegant and highly readable. Throughout, she intertwines the story of the Sharon with that of Herman Melville, the "Moby Dick" author who had sailed on a whaling ship and was starting his writing career at around the same time. She describes the awful conditions that the whaleship crews labored under and throws in enough historical backdrop to frame the story.

If the book has a drawback, its that there were no surviving firsthand accounts of Captain Morris's death. Most of the book draws on never-published journals kept by two of the crew members. Unfortunately, both journals have signifcant gaps in them, which Druett attempts to fill with other contemporary accounts of whaling vessles. For the most part, she succeeds, though the book could also have used an illustrations section. At 230 pages of narrative, it is a relatively fast read.

Overall, an excellent work of narrative nautical history that will appeal most strongly to those who love good sea adventure tales.

Rating:
Summary: Whaling¿s Darkest History
Review: The whaling industry today is a controversial practice that has become a very public battle as the numbers of whales decrease globally. Whales today are often the objects of public sympathy as the beach themselves and volunteers work to return them to a sea they have apparently abandoned. Joan Druett brings readers a story of 19th century whaling when a young author named Melville had yet to write his classic, when whaling was a deadly activity in the best circumstances, and when it was murderous in the case of the Whaleship Sharon.

The author introduces her story by explaining what the lives of those who took these multi-years round the world voyages were like. She recreates 19th century Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, New Bedford, and Fairhaven for her readers. You will read of the family's that would wait for up to 5 years for a family member to return, and also those who might return after 4 or 5 years to find they had new children or even their wife had remarried believing her husband had been lost as sea. Ms. Druett also shares the details of the crew manifest, why fugitive slaves often were found on these ships and why many who embarked on one ship would return on the second or even third ship they had crewed upon since leaving.

The story of the Sharon is brutal by any measure. Captain Howes Norris was unfit to captain a ship over 150 years ago, and would be a villain in any year since then. Sadistic behavior cannot take place without the active or passive consent of others in authority, and those who were complicit had every reason to hide what took place and are responsible for this story's remaining buried for so many years.

The author does not sensationalize the events of 1841-1845; she takes the reader from the earliest hunting of whales by Native Americans to the spectacular growth of international whaling that needed captains that could bring in ships loaded with whale oil. Their ability to bring in this cash crop was what ship owners were interested in, not the personality, civility or the humanity of the man at the helm. There were far more ships than qualified men to run them. This shortage also explained the willingness of captains to fill their ships' compliment of crew during the voyage with men who had deserted from other ships.

The last book about whaling I enjoyed this much was, "In The Heart Of The Sea", by Nathaniel Philbrick. In addition to telling this tale the writer provides wonderful notes that can direct the inquisitive reader as far as they would like to go in further reading. This book's drama is created by men and not a whale that brought about one of the great survival stories in History however, readers will be well rewarded by spending their time with Joan Druett, and if they enjoy what they have read, happily this lady has several other books she has written.

Rating:
Summary: The Darker Side of Whaling
Review: Whaling as romantic adventure has been with us since before Herman Melville put pen to paper. Even today, amidst a reassessment of the brutality of whale killing and its ecological impact, we still maintain a peculiar nostalgia for the days of the sail ship and harpoon. "Moby-Dick" is a least partially to blame for this.

Joan Druett's "In the Wake of Madness" is a powerful antidote to the idea that whaling was a rollicking high-seas adventure amongst exotic and eccentric characters. Her account of the systematic torture and murder of a cabin boy, at the hands of a sick captain named Howes Norris (while the crew did practically nothing), ranks as one of the most abominable things I've ever read. Norris' eventual murder at the hands of several Polynesian crew members, and the third mate's courageous attempt to re-take the ship, appear almost anti-climactic.

Druett's book is extremely well-researched, and it succeeds in showing whaling to be what it really was: grueling work for years at a time that involved hunger, danger, and isolation, surrounded by boorish and uneducated (and occasionally sadistic) men, and long periods of inactivity and tedium. She builds suspense early on ("Secrets were kept..."), and as another reviewer remarked, the specter of Melville hovers over everything. My only criticism is how she elevated the third mate to heroic status (his photo appears on the dust jacket). As far as I'm concerned, his paralysis during George Babcock's torture and murder, and his silence once the "Sharon" returned home, render him an accessory to the crime. But perhaps this is the publisher's doing. Whatever the case, "In the Wake of Madness" will keep you immersed in its tale, and its tragedy may keep you awake at night.