| | Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe |  | Author: Gregory Gibson
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $0.73
You Save: $29.22 (98%)
New (2) Used (6) from $0.73
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 2743232
Format: Large Print
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Largeprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 477
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0786244593
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.45
EAN: 9780786244591
ASIN: 0786244593
Publication Date: September 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In 1985 Greg Gibson was sent a handwritten journal discovered by a small time book dealer in rural Indiana. It turned out to be a young officer's account of the 1825 naval expedition dispatched to the Pacific with orders to apprehend the perpetrators of the Globe mutiny. The mutiny and its aftermath were notorious as the goriest crime in American maritime history; involving hatchet murders, stabbings, shootings and a shipboard lynching. The long-lost journal was the first eyewitness account of the fate of those mutineers, and of the innocent men left at the mercy of the tattooed islanders who adopted and enslaved them. At the center of the mutiny was a young man raised in a staunch Nantucket Quaker family. As a boy Samuel Comstock's head was filled with the stories of daring naval exploits and sea-faring adventure. As he grew older, these fantasies took a darker turn. One year into a Pacific whaling voyage, Comstock brutally murdered the captain and his officers. He and three accomplices then forced the terrified crew (among them his fifteen year old brother) to sail to the Mulgrave Islands where he planned to kill everyone aboard, destroy the ship, subdue the natives and rule the island as its king. In the confusion that followed, six of the innocent crew stole the Globe and piloted her, in an epic shorthanded voyage, 7500 miles back to South America. There they told the world of the terrible events they had witnessed. The Navy sent out its expeditionary force and seventeen-year-old midshipman Augustus Strong penned the journal that would resurface 175 years later. The story of the Globe mutiny is one of unending fascination. Dovetailing Gibson's riveting account of the mutiny is the history of the sperm oil industry, its Nantucket Quaker powerbrokers, the growth of American naval influence and how their combined agendas played out in the remote reaches of the Pacific. Above all, Demon of the Waters is, in the tradition of Nordhoff and Hall's Mutiny on the Bounty, a story of men and the sea. Brilliantly conceived, gripping, horrific, and insightful, Demon of the Waters is destined to become a classic of sea adventure.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Great mixture of history, adventure and tragedy. May 28, 2003
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I highly recommend this book to all who like to read about toll ships and see adventures.
Painstakingly, masterfully written, book embraces detailed description of whaling ships and their role in making many Nantuckers rich, as well as many aspects of human life during the "golden" era of whaling for oil industry. But not only this.
We have many historical details about early Pacific navigations and about competition for dominance in this region between France, Britain and Americans.
We will learn with fascination how white sailors encountered first time and clashed with other cultures and tribes of Pacific islands; also, how the toll ships were build on Nantucket Island at the beginning of the 19th century and who was involved in those projects.
And of course the main theme - gruesome events on the deck of the "Globe" and on the Mili atoll (Marshall islands), where two cultures met suddenly by surprise and got stunned - beautifully woven into the whole text.
Masterpiece, Mr. Gibson, no doubt. It should be considered as continuation of "In the Heart of the Sea".
Pick up this book and grab your highlighter!! April 1, 2005
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Grab this book! You're in for a wild ride!
Demon of the Waters stands out from the rest of the books I've found in the whaling adventure genre. Gibson's research is unsurpassed. He provides such varied information on whaling to satisfy anyone's appetite for adventure and knowledge, providing background on how he came across the story of the Globe mutiny and what he discovered during the course of his quest to get to the root of the story as well as the history of whaleship making in Nantucket's heyday. Unlike many other books of this type, the author doesn't bog you down with chapter after chapter of excruciating biographical detail of every crew member aboard the ship. He skillfully chooses to include the relevant information that is pertinent to the story. The mutiny on the Globe is strikingly depicted; the story is unfathomable and never lacks for an unexpected twist. It will haunt you for many days after you finish the book!
I much appreciated the chapters on the nitty-gritty of whaling terms and slang, and what went on step-by-step in felling a whale. Gibson merges thorough research with an incredible tale to create a must-read for any fan of whaling and adventure.
Advice to future readers: notice that the middle section of the book contains illustrations and pictures. I discovered this a little late and would have liked to have noticed it earlier to aid my understanding. I wish Gibson would have referenced them in the text. Overall, an EXCELLENT whaling book. I HIGHLY recommend it. If you enjoy true tales of whaling adventure, I also recommend Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea, Neil Hanson's The Custom of the Sea, and Robert Blackwood Robertson's Of Whales and Men.
 disappointingly thin November 17, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read a glowing review of this on Salon. Later, looking at the Amazon website, I read a less flattering editorial review. I'm not sure either reviewer actually read the book. The story that it is ostensibly about is that of the mutiny on the whaleship Globe. The author of the mutiny was a sort of 'romantic' sociopath type (they're never particularly romantic when you know enough about them) whose plan was to go ashore and make himself king of some savage tribes. This story was scandalous in America when it happened; sort of the O.J. Simpson trial of the 1820s. There are easily a half dozen or so books on the topic.
This one is by a rare book dealer who found a new manuscript relating to the mutiny; quite a lot of the book is dealing with his discovery of the new manuscript, and checking out various supporting pieces of evidence. It was the author's "find of a lifetime." He also had a fascinating interview with a tribesman of the island where the mutineer hoped to make himself king. This interview was appropos of nothing, really, but it made me happy to be an American (which is probably why it was included). Anyway, this book was quite fluffy; serves me right for buying something because Salon magazine said so. The magazine was never for mighty intellects, but post IPO, it has become pretty horrid. This book probably had the material for a couple of amusing magazine articles, but it wasn't worth the $25.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
