The Captain and 'The Cannibal'

"Sailing the uncharted waters of the Pacific in 1830, Captain Benjamin Morrell of Connecticut became the first outsider to encounter the inhabitants of a small island off New Guinea. The contact quickly turned violent, fatal cannons were fired, and Morrell abducted young Dako, a hostage so shocked by the white complexions of his kidnappers that he believed he had been captured by the dead. This gripping book unveils for the first time the strange odyssey the two men shared in ensuing years. The account is uniquely told, as much from the captive's perspective as from the American's. Upon returning to New York, Morrell exhibited Dako as a 'cannibal' in wildly popular shows performed on Broadway and along the East Coast. The proceeds helped fund a return voyage to the South Pacific--the captain hoping to establish trade with Dako's assistance, and Dako seizing his only chance to return home to his unmapped island. Supported by rich, newly found archives, this wide-ranging volume traces the voyage to its extraordinary ends and en route decrypts Morrell's ambiguous character, the mythic qualities of Dako's life, and the two men's infusion into American literature--Dako inspired Melville's Queequeg, for example. The encounters confound indigenous peoples and Americans alike as both puzzle over what it is to be truly human and alive"--

Product details

• Authors: James Fairhead, Fairhead James
• Publisher: Yale University Press Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.05.2015
• EAN: 9780300198775
• ISBN: 978-0-300-19877-5
• No. of pages: 392
• Dimensions: 163 mm x 243 mm x 28 mm
• Series: New Directions in Narrative History; New Directions in Narrative History; New Directions in Narrative Hi
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, TRAVEL / Special Interest / Adventure, Expeditions, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, TRAVEL / Australia & Oceania, TRAVEL / United States / General, HISTORY / Oceania, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Expeditions: popular accounts, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Social and cultural history, United States of America, USA, Australasian & Pacific history, Australasian and Pacific history, Papua New Guinea