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

by Joan Druett

Book Overview

After more than a century of silence, the true story of one of history's most notorious mutinies is revealed in Joan Druett's riveting "nautical murder mystery" (USA Today). On May 25, 1841, the Massachusetts whaleship Sharon set out for the whaling ground of the northwestern Pacific. A year later, while most of the crew was out hunting, Captain Howes Norris was brutally murdered. When the men in the whaleboats returned, they found four crew members...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565124359
• ISBN13: 9781565124356
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A decent book...

Add this to the list of maritime disaster books that are springing up. As this book doesn't go into as much detail about the whaling industry as several of the others, it is a very quick read (a rainy weekend should do it). Of interest were the sections on beachcombers and runaway slaves. It is well written and is a page turner. Most of the material comes from 2 "long lost" journals written by 2 members of the crew. Unfortunately they did not witness the actual murder so there is some question as to what actually happened. This is an enjoyable read (that you can actually get at your local B & N for $4.98 right now (hardcover even)).. If you like this you might also try: Moby Dick (the book almost all of these other "non-fictional" books reference. Neil Hanson's Custom of the Sea Gregory Gibson's Demon of the Water Glyn Williams' The Prize of All the Oceans (my favorite of the group) Mike Dash's Batavia's Graveyard Caroline Alexander's The Bounty Sir John Barrow's Mutiny Nathanial Philbrick's In the Heart of Sea Davis Shaw's The Sea Shall Embrace Them Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm Doug Stanton's In Harm's Way

REIGN OF TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS

"Whaling captains were men who left their souls at home." On May 25, 1841, the whaling ship Sharon departed Fairhaven, Massachusetts for the limitless Pacific. She sailed under the command of Captain Howes Norris. The sun was already setting on America's whaling industry. Consistent successful voyages had inspired investors to build more and more ships, which swelled America's whaling fleet to its largest in history. This resulted in an acute shortage of competent sailors--especially harpooners--which thereupon resulted in unqualified crews manning the ships, and particularly the whaleboats, the small craft dispatched to harpoon the whales. Not to mention, years of successful voyages had drastically reduced the sperm whale population. Now, what few whales were sighted, inexperienced harpooners often failed to drive in the harpoon deeply enough to kill, or even missed their gargantuan targets altogether. If a whaling master failed to bring home at least 1,500 barrels of oil, he seriously risked never being granted a command again. And the somewhat inexperienced, somewhat innocent crew of the Sharon weighed anchor under the restless command of Howes Norris. It was to become one of the most notorious voyages of the 19th century. Month after month slid by . . . the Sharon paced along the broiling equator, ever hopeful, but seldom satisfied. If she stopped at an island for provisions, desertion was commonplace. Men would jump ship in the night and swim a half-mile to shore. And so natives were taken aboard to fill vacancies. A somewhat inexperienced crew was rendered even more inexperienced. On a fine Pacific day in November 1842, as the vast majority of the scant crew were out in the whaleboats, Captain Norris was viciously murdered--literally cut in two--by natives recruited at Rotuma. What could have inspired such horrific violence? Was this an unprovoked attack by savages? Or was it retribution? This is one of the most readable nautical books I've ever read. The author convincingly evokes the monotony of life at sea, the explosive results of close quarters, the frustration of a captain on a fruitless voyage, and the terror of a man with unquestionable authority. With this book, I could feel the deck swaying beneath my feet; I could see the wet decks steaming in the equatorial sun. The author paints beautiful portraits of exotic locales visited by the Sharon, islands such as Nukuoro, Rotuma, Banaba, and Kiribati. She also draws compelling parallels between the Sharon's ugly voyage and the fiction of Herman Melville, who himself served aboard whalers and witnessed firsthand the cruelty of angry shipmasters. Anyone looking to start a nautical library--this book would be a perfect first purchase.

The Darker Side of Whaling

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.

The Criminal Captain

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.

Sadist On The High Seas

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 d