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In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon Paperback – January 4, 2004

by Joan Druett (Author)

4.1 412 ratings

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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 on board, three of whom were covered in blood, the other screaming from atop the mast. Single-handedly, the third officer launched a surprise attack to recapture the Sharon, killing two of the attackers and subduing the other. An American investigation into the murder was never conducted--even when the Sharon returned home three years later, with only four of the original twenty-nine crew on board.

Joan Druett, a historian who's been called a female Patrick O'Brian by the Wall Street Journal, dramatically re-creates the mystery of the ill-fated whaleship and reveals a voyage filled with savagery under the command of one of the most ruthless captains to sail the high seas.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Algonquin Books
Publication date

January 4, 2004
Dimensions

5.45 x 0.85 x 8.36 inches
ISBN-10

1565124359
ISBN-13

978-1565124356
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joan Druett is a maritime historian and the award-winning author of several books, including Petticoat Whalers, She Was a Sister Sailor, Hen Frigates, Tupaia, and The Discovery of Tahiti. Her interest in maritime history began in 1984, when she discovered the grave of a young American whaling wife while exploring the tropical island of Rarotonga; she subsequently received a Fulbright fellowship to study whaling wives in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. Her ground-breaking work in the field of seafaring women was also recognized with a L. Byrne Waterman Award. She is married to Ron Druett, a maritime artist.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Books (January 4, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1565124359
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1565124356
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 0.85 x 8.36 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #375,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #218 in Ship History (Books)
- #5,148 in U.S. State & Local History
- #9,097 in World History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 412 ratings

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Joan Druett

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I have written for as long as I can remember: my mother kept a "book" I wrote when I was four. It was several pages long, was well illustrated, told a story, and had no spelling mistakes!

In my teens I wrote for Maori and science fiction magazines. In my early twenties I worked in Toronto at a university press, and then in London as a copy editor for Gollanz. Back in New Zealand, I wrote travel articles for international magazines and regularly reviewed books for the "New Zealand Herald". This -- plus teaching college level biology -- was interrupted when I stumbled over the grave of a young whaling wife on the tropical island of Rarotonga. It was a life-changing experience..A Fulbright fellowship led to five months of research in New Bedford and Edgartown, Massachusetts; Mystic, Connecticut; and San Francisco, California. The result was the first in a series of books about seafaring wives, all of which have received awards..

Three years on a joint fellowship (with my maritime artist husband, the dear, departed Ron Druett) in the village of Orient on Long Island, led to participation in a prize-winning exhibit, “The Sailing Circle," which received substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This project won the highly prestigious Albert Corey Award.

Back in New Zealand, I was lucky in getting another fellowship, the Stout Fellowship at Victoria University, Wellington.This gave me the opportunity to keep on writing. Maritime stories for international magazines followed, and I reviewed books for the Boston Globe, the Listener, and other prestigious newspapers and journals. And of course there were books, including "Island of the Lost," which has become an enduring classic in the survival genre, and has been translated in Italy and Ukraine. "Tupaia," the biography of an astonishingly brilliant Tahitian priest and navigator, who sailed with Captain Cook. This won the NZ Post Best Non-fiction Book award, and. has been translated into Chinese and French.

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4.1 out of 5

412 global ratings

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David

Great Book

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2024

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Very interesting story and an exciting read

One person found this helpful

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Bruce Loveitt

Sadist On The High Seas

Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2003

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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.

37 people found this helpful

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micjigam!ike

A time from the past

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2022

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A good accounting of conditions in an industry that once was vital to our country's way of life. The book kept my interest though at times I wished the story
had elaborated or become more involved in the scene at hand as opposed to detouring to episodes, though relative, to support the narrative.

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J. DAVIDSON

In the wake of madness

Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024

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My husband is enjoying this read

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2022

Verified Purchase

I found this very educational and exciting, I knew nothing of whaling and how the oil was used. This is a true crime story from centuries ago an madness has always been a human condition.

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2023

Verified Purchase

A non-fiction page turner and must read for anyone with an interest in the grisly but captivating history of whaling.

One person found this helpful

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greenpete

The Darker Side of Whaling

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2004

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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.

11 people found this helpful

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Denise E.

Interesting book

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2023

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Interesting book. Bought one for myself and one for my adult grandson.

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