Boon Island
Subtitle: including contemporary accounts of the wreck of the Nottingham Galley
By: Kenneth Roberts ; edited by Jack Bales and Richard Warner.
Contributors: Bales, Jack.; Warner, Richard H. 1936-
Publisher: University Press of New England; UPNE
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Hanover
Language: eng
Number of pages: 373
Subjects: Nottingham (Galley) -- Fiction; Shipwrecks -- Maine -- Boon Island -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction; Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc. -- Fiction; Boon Island (Me.) -- Fiction
Description: This classic tale of shipwreck and survival is reprinted in a new edition, with essays that provide a historical perspective and trace the sources from which Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957) drew his tale. A native Mainer, Roberts, whose historical novels include Northwest Passage and Arundel, was intrigued by the story of the December 1710 wreck of the Nottingham. After running aground a dozen miles offshore, the ship broke up, stranding her crew with minimal tools, scant shelter, and a few pieces of cheese.

The men survived nearly a month of screeching gales, sub-freezing temperatures, and driving snowstorms. During their ordeal they resorted to cannibalism and were finally rescued after one of them made it ashore on a crude raft. Included here are contemporary accounts from crew members, offering dramatically different versions of the true-life traumatic event and a fascinating counterpoint to Roberts' fictionalized version.

A bestseller when published in 1956, Boon Island is a story of the ways that crisis can inspire the best - and worst - in human nature.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.