A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile Voyage of Its Survivors
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.67 (903 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 074323037X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-09-07 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
The Hornet's complement -- twenty-nine officers and crew, and two aristocratic passengers -- mirrored all the prejudices and nuances of Industrial Age America. But the islands never materialized, and with no hope left, the men planned the details of cannibalism. Their ordeal was harrowing: half of the Hornet's crew disappeared; the survivors were stalked by sharks and waterspouts, desiccated by heat, driven mad by lack of food and water. On the day they were to draw straws, they reached Hawaii. Their only salvation was to land on the "American group," a mythical set of islands said to exist somewhere in the Pacific. On that day, the first mate went below to draw some varnish from a cask and accidentally set the cask afire. The American clipper ship Hornet left her homeport of New York City on January 15, 1866, and embarked on what was considered a routine voyage to San Francisco around Cape Horn. Along with the stories of the Bounty and the whaleship Essex, the Hornet disaster was onc
Jackson weaves in astute tidbits of history, philosophy and science, explaining why, for example, cannibalism is not a physiologically effective survival tactic. In addition to the journals left by the captain and two passengers, Jackson incorporates interviews with the survivors conducted by a young reporter named Mark Twain, who happened to be in Hawaii at the time. (Twain's articles on the Hornet were picked up by newspapers worldwide and made his reputation, despite a mistaken byline in Harper's of "Mark Swain.") These sources allow Jackson to quote dialogue, sketch characters' thoughts and avoid the speculation that diminishes so many historical narratives. From Publishers Weekly On May 3, 1866, the clipper ship Hornet was consumed by fire and sank in the middle of the South Pacific. These events are dramatic enough: a thief steals bread-and murder is nearly the result; a seaman sacrifices a water ration to a sick man he fully expects to eat the next day; and mutineers h
Hornet's Nest This is not just another "men in a lifeboat" book. Joe Jackson tells that part of the story well - the thirst, the hunger, battling the fierce sun and raging storms (and a "demonic" waterspout which seems to chase the lifeboats!), etc. - but the author has bigger fish to fry. Since this was a well-publicized story, he has journals and newspaper reports to draw upon and he can actually, with accuracy, get into the dynamics of what occurred on the lifeboats as time went by and the men starte. Gripping, Compelling, Not to Be Missed! Matthew McGinley (real name™) "A Furnace Afloat" written by five-time pulitzer prize nominee Joe Jackson details the "harrowing 4,300-mile voyage of its survivors." Skillfully and intelligently woven into the fabric of Jackson's writing are anecdotes of modern science, physiology and psychology, tying threads between the tragic and testing events of the survivors of the "Hornet" and events of today. For this reason, I recommend "A Furnace Afloat" to all college and university students as mandatory reading, given credit. Tough going Dan Schobert This book by Joe Jackson is one of those kinds of works difficult to put down as the reader is caught up in the pain of an awful moment. I don't feel it necessary in a review to rehearse the entire episode but to simply say that what the men trying to survive from the burning and sinking of the Hornet had to do should never be anyone's lot in life. I've read other survival literature and Jackson's account is equal to any I've come across in the past few years. It is hard to imagine the tho