Overview

Samuel Comstock knew he was born to do some great thing, but his only legacy was a reign of terror. Two years out of Nantucket on a whaling voyage in 1824, he organized a mutiny and murdered the officers of the Globe. It was a premeditated act; in his sea chest Comstock carried the seeds, tools, and weapons with which he would found his own island kingdom. He had often described these plans to one of his brothers, William. But the chief witness and chronicler of the mutiny was young George Comstock, who neither participated in nor approved of his brother's savage deed. Within days of settling on Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Comstock was murdered by his fellow mutineers. Six innocent seamen—George among them—seized the Globe and escaped; most of the rest were killed by natives. Two survivors lived for twenty-two months, half-prisoners and half-adoptees of the natives, until they were rescued in a bold and dangerous maneuver by a landing party from the U.S. schooner Dolphin. The Globe's story is one of terror, adventure, endurance, and luck. It is also the story of one of the most bizarre and frightening minds that ever went to sea.

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9780393335682

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Reviews

A welcome addition to the canon of whaling literature . . . A brisk read.

A searching, impeccably researched account of one of the most horrifying and fascinating events in Nantucket's whaling history. A riveting story . . . one of the most horrifying mutinies of all time A welcome addition to the canon of whaling literature . . . A brisk read. Thomas Heffernan's Mutiny on the Globe is a searching, impeccably researched account of one of the most horrifying and fascinating events in Nantucket's whaling history.--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea --Nathaniel Philbrick

Thomas Heffernan's Mutiny on the Globe is a searching, impeccably researched account of one of the most horrifying and fascinating events in Nantucket's whaling history.--Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea --Nathaniel Philbrick

Author Information

Thomas Farel Heffernan is the author of Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex and former president of the Melville Society. He lives in Garden City, New York.

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