THE TRUE PACIFIC ADVENTURE STORY YOU'VE NEVER HEARD
In 1827, a shipwrecked Irish sailor named James O'Connell was dragged ashore on an uncharted Pacific island and faced with a simple choice: perform or die. He chose to dance. What followed were seven years of living deeper inside the 19th-century Pacific world than almost any Westerner of his era - and one of the greatest true adventure stories never properly told.
THE STORY: Tattooed over most of his body. Married to a Micronesian chief's daughter. Veteran of a Pacific island canoe war. Discoverer of ancient ruins that would later become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. O'Connell saw it all - and survived it all - before returning to the United States to become the country's first tattooed exhibitionist.
THIS EDITION: The 1845 original has been locked in poor-quality digital archives for decades, riddled with OCR errors and nearly unreadable. This enhanced critical edition restores the full text, sharpens the prose into the driving adventure narrative it deserves to be, and adds:
- 30 expert footnotes with historical context and modern scholarship
- Full glossary of nautical, Pacific Island and historical terms
- Detailed maps section covering O'Connell's route and the Pohnpei island group
- Editor's introduction placing O'Connell among the great Pacific adventure writers
- Timeline of O'Connell's life and voyages
- Comparison to Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana and other Pacific writers
- Further reading and bibliography
PERFECT FOR FANS OF: Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana, Patrick O'Brian, 19th century maritime history, Pacific Island culture, Micronesia travel, tattoo history, true survival stories, shipwreck narratives, age of sail fiction and nonfiction, adventure memoirs.
