Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xi, 377 pages : illustrations; 24 cm.

Summary

1. "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"--

Series statement

1. New directions in narrative history

Uniform title

1. New directions in narrative history.

Subject

1. Morrell, Benjamin, 1795-1839
2. Papua New Guinea > Description and travel
3. Morrell, Benjamin, 1795-1839 > Travel > Papua New Guinea
4. Indigenous peoples > Papua New Guinea > Biography
5. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Adventurers & Explorers
6. Kidnapping > Papua New Guinea > History > 19th century
7. Dako
8. First contact of aboriginal peoples with Westerners > Papua New Guinea > History > 19th century
9. Sideshows > New York (State) > New York > History > 19th century
10. Papua New Guinea > Discovery and exploration
11. HISTORY / Social History
12. BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
13. Ship captains > Connecticut > Biography
14. HISTORY / United States / 19th Century

Contents

1. Prologue -- The Island -- The Captain -- At Sea -- The "Cannibal Show" -- The Tour -- The Books -- Dako, God, and Humanity -- Fame -- Return to Dako's Island -- Missing -- Tables Turned -- Sydney Respite -- Dako's Dominion -- Shipwreck -- Morrell Adrift -- Father and Son -- The Lost Colony -- Epilogue: The "Cannibal" and the Captain.

Call number

1. JFE 15-2647

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Author

1. Fairhead, James, 1962- author.

Title

1. The captain and "the cannibal" : an epic story of exploration, kidnapping, and the Broadway stage / James Fairhead.

Publisher

1. New Haven : Yale University Press, [2015].

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Series

1. New directions in narrative history
2. New directions in narrative history.

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

LCCN

1. 2014029610

ISBN

1. 9780300198775 (hardcover)
2. 0300198779 (hardcover)

Research call number

1. JFE 15-2647