Boon Island - Kenneth Roberts [7]
Because it was the first edition printed in modern type, the Abbatt version has become a favorite for reprint in more recent anthologies of shipwrecks and sea disasters, for example, R. Thomas's Remarkable Shipwrecks, Fires, Famines, Calamities, Providential Deliverances, and Lamentable Disasters on the Seas, first printed in 1835 and reprinted as Interesting and Authentic Wrecks in 1970, and G. W. Barrington's Remarkable Voyages and Shipwrecks.32 The most recent popularization directed to shipwreck enthusiasts is Keith Huntress's 1975 volume, Narratives of Shipwrecks & Disasters, 15861860. According to the editor, "the genesis of this anthology was the chance purchase ... of a battered copy of R. Thomas's Remarkable Shipwrecks."33
There are no analytic or scholarly accounts of the wreck of the Nottingham Galley except for the highly regarded legal history
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by A. W. Brian Simpson, Cannibalism and the Common Law. Surprisingly inaccurate, Simpson claims that the Deane and Langman versions "in general are not in conflict," and although seemingly judicious, he relies upon the Langman account to explain the sequence of events. He also badly miscalculates the length of the crew's stay on Boon Island, dating the rescue in September rather than early January, ten months rather than twenty-four days after the wreck. 34
Two notable works of fiction deal with Captain Deane and the wreck of the Nottingham Galley. In 1870 author of juvenile literature W. H. G. Kingston wrote John Deane of Nottingham, a work that confounds fact and fiction.35 It is a fanciful tale that spins for Deane a Robinhood-like youth as a butcher's apprentice and deer poacher who joins the navy when forced to flee Nottingham. Kingston uses actual ships and commanders of the period to construct a career leading to Deane's promotion to captain by Admiral Rooke after the battle of Gibraltar. Though he may well have served in the navy in the ratings, the admiralty papers show no evidence that Deane ever served as an officer, and it is unlikely that such an attainment would have gone unrecorded in this period. Moreover, had the captain been promoted for bravery in battle, he certainly would have used it to his advantage later in life. Even the most casual reader would find it hard to recognize the wreck of the Nottingham Galley in Kingston's book, for it bears little resemblance to the original accounts. Nonetheless, Kingston has had a lasting impact on Deane's biography, for local historians have passed on "knowledge" gained from his book.
Kenneth Roberts's work is quite different. A native of Maine familiar with Boon Island and accounts of the wreck of the Nottingham Galley, Roberts is true to his sources. He was an uncommonly principled borrower of historical material who was careful not to make central historical figures leading characters in his
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novels. The fictional aspects of Boon Island are largely devoted to creating a milieu for the development of the characters, among them Miles Whitworth, who is used as the narrator. The captain remains a shadowy, though honorable and strong, figure, not unlike the person he actually seems to have been.
During his lifetime, Captain Deane's account of the Notttingham disaster prevailed, for he had outlived his opponents and possessed the resources and desire to promote his own version of events. Indeed, he even attempted to maintain control after his death by making a provision in his will for posthumous publication by Whitworth.