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A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile Voyage of Its Survivors
In the tradition of Nathaniel Philbrick's bestselling In the Heart of the Sea, Joe Jackson's A Furnace Afloat tells of the American clipper ship Hornet, which went down in flames, casting its crew adrift for forty-three days on the open ocean. Along with the stories of the Bounty and the whaleship Essex, the Hornet disaster was once one of the country's most infamous naval disasters.
Over the years, a handful of famous shipwrecks have become symbols of something greater, their accounts a floating opera of sudden disaster, wasted life, and privations endured by survivors. One of these was the 1866 saga of the clipper ship Hornet, the crew of which barely survived for six weeks on ten days' worth of rations and shoe leather, drifting 4,300 miles in a single lifeboat as they all slowly weakened and became delirious or mad.
The American clipper ship Hornet left her homeport of New York City on January 15, 1866, and embarked on what was considered a routine voyage to San Francisco around Cape Horn. She enjoyed an exceptionally smooth passage until the morning of May 3, when the ship ghosted gently a thousand miles west of the Galápagos Islands. On that day, the first mate went below to draw some varnish from a cask and accidentally set the cask afire. Within minutes, the entire ship was engulfed.
The ship's company of thirty-one men escaped into three small boats, set adrift under the burning sun of the Pacific Ocean to watch helplessly as the Hornet became a floating bonfire and sank beneath the waves.
The Hornet's complement -- twenty-nine officers and crew, and two aristocratic passengers -- mirrored all the prejudices and nuances of Industrial Age America. Their ordeal was harrowing: half of the Hornet's crew disappeared; the survivors were stalked by sharks and waterspouts, desiccated by heat, driven mad by lack of food and water. Soon the social divisions in the boat erupted into class war.
The crewmen accused the captain of hoarding food, water, and even gold, and they plotted mutiny. Their only salvation was to land on the "American group," a mythical set of islands said to exist somewhere in the Pacific. But the islands never materialized, and with no hope left, the men planned the details of cannibalism. On the day they were to draw straws, they reached Hawaii. By chance, a young, little-known Samuel Langhorne Clemens was in Hawaii. He wrote an account of the voyage that would make the crew famous, and Mark Twain (Clemens' nom de plume) a household name.
Drawing on extensive primary sources, including survivors' diaries and letters, as well as newspaper accounts and Twain's reporting, Jackson has created a gripping narrative of the horrors and triumphs of men against the sea.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
2 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Joe Jackson
8 books13 followersJoe Jackson is the author of seven works of nonfiction and a novel. His nonfiction includes: Leavenworth Train, a finalist for the 2002 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime; Dead Run: The Shocking Story of Dennis Stockton and Life on Death Row in America, with co-author William F. Burke and an introduction by William Styron; A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile of its Survivors; A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen; The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire, one of Time magazine's Top Ten Books of 2008; and Atlantic Fever: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the Atlantic, released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in May 2012. A first novel, How I Left the Great State of Tennessee and Went on to Better Things, was released in March 2004.
His seventh work of nonfiction - Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary - was released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in October 2016; it chronicles the life of Oglala Lakota holy man Black Elk, best known for his 1932 Black Elk Speaks, written in collaboration with the Nebraska poet-laureate John Neihardt. Jackson's biography received the following honors and awards in 2017: Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography; Best Biography of 2016, True West magazine; Winner of the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award, Best Western Biography; Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography; and One of the Best Books of 2016, The Boston Globe.
His seventh work of nonfiction - Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary - was released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in October 2016; it chronicles the life of Oglala Lakota holy man Black Elk, best known for his 1932 Black Elk Speaks, written in collaboration with the Nebraska poet-laureate John Neihardt. Jackson's biography received the following honors and awards in 2017: Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography; Best Biography of 2016, True West magazine; Winner of the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award, Best Western Biography; Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography; and One of the Best Books of 2016, The Boston Globe.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 10, 2013
On May 3, 1866, the American clipper ship Hornet caught fire. The 31 castaways were left with ten days' rations, 12 gallons of potable water and three small boats. 43 days later, having floated 4,300 miles some of them reached Hawaii. The burning itself occurred 1,000 miles due west of the Galapagos Islands. The book is about this trip, what the men went through both psychologically and physically. In addition it documents scientific and historical details of the time. It covers the construction of ships, the shipping industry, the political climate following the Civil War, Victorian mannerisms and what was known about the flora and fauna of the seas at this time. What happened to the survivors afterward? The book follows all of them until their deaths.
The author repeatedly increases suspense by first telling us of an imminent disaster and then filling out with historical details of other similar events in history. Only then do we return to what happens on the boats. Storm clouds approach and the text switches to a detailed analysis of storms and winds. The water runs out, and we are given an account of what happens to the body with dehydration. Food is gone and cannibalism threatens, the author explains what had happened in other comparable situations. This book is chock full of history and scientific information, it is not merely an exciting adventure story. It is that too, of course. I found the mix of fact and adventure very well done, but for those of you who just want an exciting adventure story, I would not recommend this book.
The book includes an index, a glossary of nautical terms, notes for every chapter and an extensive bibliography. There is a map of the voyage and photos of the ship, the captain, picture clips that appeared in the Harper's Weekly after the dramatic landing and diary drawings too.
Sam Clemens/Mark Twain was in Hawaii at the time, and he began to make his career with his recount of the Hornet's epic story. This too is interesting. What he chose to report is questionable, but read the book to judge for yourself!
The author repeatedly increases suspense by first telling us of an imminent disaster and then filling out with historical details of other similar events in history. Only then do we return to what happens on the boats. Storm clouds approach and the text switches to a detailed analysis of storms and winds. The water runs out, and we are given an account of what happens to the body with dehydration. Food is gone and cannibalism threatens, the author explains what had happened in other comparable situations. This book is chock full of history and scientific information, it is not merely an exciting adventure story. It is that too, of course. I found the mix of fact and adventure very well done, but for those of you who just want an exciting adventure story, I would not recommend this book.
The book includes an index, a glossary of nautical terms, notes for every chapter and an extensive bibliography. There is a map of the voyage and photos of the ship, the captain, picture clips that appeared in the Harper's Weekly after the dramatic landing and diary drawings too.
Sam Clemens/Mark Twain was in Hawaii at the time, and he began to make his career with his recount of the Hornet's epic story. This too is interesting. What he chose to report is questionable, but read the book to judge for yourself!
May 23, 2021
In 1866 the wooden clipper sailing ship Hornet suddenly caught fire, burned and sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Its crews took to 3 open lifeboats with very little food or water. Initially the one large boat and 2 smaller boats tied together, but hopelessly becalmed in doldrums while their food ran out, eventually the larger boat cut off the other 2 small boats which were never heard from again. Once free of the doldrums, the captain, crew, and a few passengers in the larger boat missed small islands time and time again, and their water and food all but gone they began suffer the agonies of thirst and hunger and endless exposure to the sun and weather. Just as they were literally dieing and about to resort to cannibalism, they reached Hawaii, a voyage of more than 4,000 miles in an open boat, longer than even Captain Bligh's record-setting escape from the mutiny on the Bounty in the 1700s. Once a well-known story, the Hornet's tale today is all but forgotten and Joe Jackson has written a carefully researched, well-written account of this epic adventure that is likely to serve as the best modern account of the Hornet, and focusing on the extrmes that humans can endure. Incidentally, the story of the Hornet became the basis for Jules Verne's excellent novel, Wreck of the Chancellor, which I wish was better known and more available today because it is an excellent story!
September 2, 2011
On 3rd May, 1866, due to a clumsy accident motivated by kindness, the clipper Hornet caught fire in the middle of the Pacific, forcing the crew and passengers to evacuate into three boats. They had rations for 10 days. 43 days later, one boatful of survivors landed in Hawaii, hours from death in some cases. The unknown Mark Twain, prone with a bad case of saddle sores, managed to visit some in hospital, and meet others on the steamer back to California, and sold their story as a heroic tale of one man and how he held it all together. Now, it is mainly forgotten (one very short account in Wikipedia that the boat sank.)
Joe Jackson has gone back to the original diaries, letters and other accounts and written about what really happened - in doing so, he has written one of the best shipwreck survival books I've read, tying the growing hostility between the regular crew, and the captain and passengers, into the broader story of labour movements in the US, arguing the case of the Hornet as one as the early outbreaks of the class wars that were about to rock society. He looks at the motivations of all the men involved, sympathetically, and creates a rich account of adventure and tragedy.
Joe Jackson has gone back to the original diaries, letters and other accounts and written about what really happened - in doing so, he has written one of the best shipwreck survival books I've read, tying the growing hostility between the regular crew, and the captain and passengers, into the broader story of labour movements in the US, arguing the case of the Hornet as one as the early outbreaks of the class wars that were about to rock society. He looks at the motivations of all the men involved, sympathetically, and creates a rich account of adventure and tragedy.
October 24, 2020
Imagine being in the middle of the ocean on a ship, seemingly snug in the belief that you're at the 3/4 mark of your journey and you're almost home. Then a fire suddenly ignites and your wooden sailing vessel is gone. You are rescued, no one is lost (not even the rooster), but you now face the hard facts...how will you survive?
In 1866, the crew and passengers of the Hornet underwent such an ordeal, alone in three small boats in the vast Pacific Ocean. The tale told by Joe Jackson is what makes this such a great journey for the reader. Using firsthand facts, Jackson weaves in Achilles, mythical islands, Foxhole Syndrome, and many other where-did-those-come-from tidbits to make each page turn faster than the facts can unfold.
I never once lost interest in the tale, as the book also led me to the horrific details of the Granicus and Donner Party fates. Every time I am ready for a real life maritime adventure, I make the mistake of opening one of these shipwreck tomes.
Book Season = Summer (salty waves under hot sun)
In 1866, the crew and passengers of the Hornet underwent such an ordeal, alone in three small boats in the vast Pacific Ocean. The tale told by Joe Jackson is what makes this such a great journey for the reader. Using firsthand facts, Jackson weaves in Achilles, mythical islands, Foxhole Syndrome, and many other where-did-those-come-from tidbits to make each page turn faster than the facts can unfold.
I never once lost interest in the tale, as the book also led me to the horrific details of the Granicus and Donner Party fates. Every time I am ready for a real life maritime adventure, I make the mistake of opening one of these shipwreck tomes.
Book Season = Summer (salty waves under hot sun)
November 20, 2023
Context is everything, and Jackson elevates the story of the Hornet's survivors by placing it in every context imaginable: historical, scientific, geographic, oceanic, philosophical, medical, religious, physical, mental, spiritual, professional, social, literary, familial, and more. He understands that what the men's survival meant, and means today, is in the end of greater interest than what it consisted of, although his precise and measured telling of the details keeps the story moving and brings us back to the narrative after each contextual digression. A beautifully and compellingly wrought telling.
May 14, 2018
My husband had received this book in a book yankee swap. As he was reading it he related some of the events taking place, some of then seemed a bit gory to me and I thought, "that's a book I'll never read". Famous last words. Ll and behold, but it was chosen as a read for our book discussion group. I found this to be a good read. Not only was the author able to impress upon the reader the feeling of being at sea for 43 days in a small boat, but also gave a great insight into the psychological aspects of the trauma these men (and their families) experienced.
May 6, 2023
Fascinating true story, interspersed with details about everything remotely connected to the events that occurred. Some of these include rogue waves, starvation’s effects on the human body, navigation in the 19th century, waterspouts, history of mutiny, psychological effects on castaways, etc. This research makes up about 1/3 of the book.
I personally found all this information interesting and the author does a good job of bringing the reader back to the events of the Hornet’s ordeal, but it does make for a slightly drier reading experience.
I personally found all this information interesting and the author does a good job of bringing the reader back to the events of the Hornet’s ordeal, but it does make for a slightly drier reading experience.
April 24, 2008
This is a well written story of the unbelievable survival story involving the Captain and many of the crew of the American clipper ship,"Hornet", struggling against an unfriendly sea and horrific weather conditions with only scant supplies of water and food.There is sheer drama and unbelievable persistence, against all odds,in this account of the survivors' long sea journey in a small open,and crowded boat. Only the faith, nautical knowledge and experience of Captain Mitchell brought this haggard,starved and dehydrated group of men 4300 miles to ultimate rescue.
I had read the bestseller, "In the Heart of the Sea," about a year ago, and this "A Furnace Afloat" by Joe Jackson, is probably superior to that work.
The Author, at times, waxes poetically in describing the mentality of the individual castaways and their silent struggles with envy, anger, frustration, suspicion, paranoia, and then, of course, there was the nagging impulse to quench the burning thirst by sucking in large amounts of salt water which brought on its own variation of madness.
The first real life and death decision the Captain made was whether to cut his craft free from two other lifeboats in an effort to gain speed or to remain connected. The ultimate decision probably saved the larger boat and its crew but surely spelled disaster for the other two boats and that fact weighed heavily on the Captain's mind for the rest of his life.
Another wrinkle to this already suspenseful story, is the fact that as the survivors ultimately landed in the Hawaii islands, there was a struggling young writer living there who then was known exclusively as, "Samuel Clemens". It was only later that he became known worldwide as, "Mark Twain." Twain was able to interview the survivors and wrote a series of articles in a San Francisco newspaper about the nightmare of a journey and survival. This story catapulted him to the fame that he had sought so long.
Bob I.
I had read the bestseller, "In the Heart of the Sea," about a year ago, and this "A Furnace Afloat" by Joe Jackson, is probably superior to that work.
The Author, at times, waxes poetically in describing the mentality of the individual castaways and their silent struggles with envy, anger, frustration, suspicion, paranoia, and then, of course, there was the nagging impulse to quench the burning thirst by sucking in large amounts of salt water which brought on its own variation of madness.
The first real life and death decision the Captain made was whether to cut his craft free from two other lifeboats in an effort to gain speed or to remain connected. The ultimate decision probably saved the larger boat and its crew but surely spelled disaster for the other two boats and that fact weighed heavily on the Captain's mind for the rest of his life.
Another wrinkle to this already suspenseful story, is the fact that as the survivors ultimately landed in the Hawaii islands, there was a struggling young writer living there who then was known exclusively as, "Samuel Clemens". It was only later that he became known worldwide as, "Mark Twain." Twain was able to interview the survivors and wrote a series of articles in a San Francisco newspaper about the nightmare of a journey and survival. This story catapulted him to the fame that he had sought so long.
Bob I.
July 11, 2016
A Furnace Afloat is the story of the clipper ship Hornet, which caught fire at sea, leaving its crew and several upper-class passengers adrift at sea in an open lifeboat for 43 days. The tensions between the crew and the passengers that nearly led to mutiny, the desperate fight for survival which included eating shoe leather and contemplating cannibalism, and their miraculous arrival in Hawaii to the delight of then-unknown journalist Samuel Clemens (later known the world over as Mark Twain) are all covered in the book. Jackson does an excellent job with research, aided by the fact that the captain, two passengers, and one member of the crew kept extensive diaries through the experience, and nearly all gave interviews to Twain, who documented the events in a career-making piece of journalism. Jackson also makes a point to explain the historical context of the ship's journey, the science behind the weather phenomenons the lifeboat encountered, and medical facts of the sufferings of the crew. It is a fact-packed and well written book.
November 13, 2013
An interesting read on an event I've never heard of. The book was boring and little bit too 'psychological' in some areas. There were many gory details I found myself skipping over.
Still I recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn about the Hornet disaster. While in fairy-tales you see people surviving an ordeal to go on to live happily ever after, it isn't that way in this book. Captain Mitchell of the Hornet returned home to be at his wife's deathbed and one of two survivor brothers died. It was also a tough road to recovery for the 15 who survived, having starved for about 40 days.
Still I recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn about the Hornet disaster. While in fairy-tales you see people surviving an ordeal to go on to live happily ever after, it isn't that way in this book. Captain Mitchell of the Hornet returned home to be at his wife's deathbed and one of two survivor brothers died. It was also a tough road to recovery for the 15 who survived, having starved for about 40 days.
October 26, 2014
The title belies the actual story. Certainly a fire wrecked the "Hornet", but the ensuing journey to try and find land IS the story, and it's an enthralling one. The author does an admirable job of including other historical information about similar situations, making me want to look into some of the other wrecks and survivors. Once again, I am struck by the fortitude of human beings to endure such trying circumstances. I'm not sure how I'd do in the same situation. Not exactly heartwarming, but inspirational in the sense of human endurance.
February 28, 2014
Well written and interesting account of the harrowing cross-Pacific escape a clipper ship crew experiences after their boat burns and leaves them stranded in three lifeboats. The author brings in a lot of psychological, cultural and historical information to flesh out the tale.
April 17, 2016
This book fascinated me. Some of the technical jargon was confusing, but what a human can endure, and how random circumstances can forever change the course of one's life left me in awe. I do, however, have a totally different opinion now of Mark Twain.
January 3, 2017
Great book! some of the statistics got a little dry here and there but rare. In addition to the engaging telling of the tale, there was interspersed wonderful passages telling the history of shipwrecks, the history of mutiny, etc. Added much to the book.
July 23, 2011
This book was a bit repetitive to read although it was a interesting subject
September 4, 2011
Thrilling true story of survival at sea during the age of sail. Raw and intense. Love these kind of books.
March 11, 2015
One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a while. Engaging, well written and a quick read.
April 7, 2017
Love me a good tragedy-at-sea true story.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews