Kenneth Roberts – The Unofficial Site

After over a half year, we have a post!  It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted, but I can finally say that my dissertation is complete! I submitted my defense draft on Monday and am now awaiting my oral defense. Lord willing, I’ll be graduating in May!  What does that mean for this site? I can hopefully devote more time to it than I have in the recent past!

Kindle Edition, “Boon Island,” from Amazon.com

Since I’ve been gone, I received an email from Stephen Erickson, co-author of Boon Island: A True Story of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Cannibalism (Globe Pequot, 2012). Along with Andrew Vietze, Erickson writes about the shipwreck of the Nottingham Galley on Boon Island, the same event that was the subject of Kenneth Roberts’ own Boon Island. Here is the blurb on the back jacket (courtesy of Amazon.com):

 

The wreck of the Nottingham Galley on Boon Island and the resultant rumors of insurance fraud, mutiny, treason, and cannibalism was one of the most sensational stories of the early eighteenth century. Shortly after departing England with Captain John Deane at the helm, his brother Jasper and another investor aboard, and an inexperienced crew, the ship encountered French privateers on her way to Ireland, where she then lingered for weeks picking up cargo. They eventually headed into the North Atlantic and then found themselves shipwrecked on the notorious Boon Island, just off the New England coast. Captain Deane offered one version of the events that led them to the barren rock off the coast of Maine; his crew proposed another. In the hands of skilled storytellers Andrew Vietze and Stephen Erickson, this becomes a historical adventure that reveals mysteries that endure to this day.

I can’t wait to read this recent account of the Nottingham Galley and see how it compares and contrasts with Roberts’ account.  Stephen Erickson has kindly agreed to do a Q&A with me about the book – something that I plan on posting to this website soon.

In the meantime, for you Kenneth Roberts fans and for those who love history, purchase this book and read!  Feel free to email me your thoughts on the book as well.   It looks as if I’ll need to refresh myself on Roberts’ book as I wait on Erickson’s book.

Much thanks to Stephen Erickson for reaching out to this website!

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