The Courage of Captain Plum

by James Oliver Curwood

On an afternoon in the early summer of 1856 Captain Nathaniel Plum, master and owner of the sloop Typhoon was engaged in nothing more important than the smoking of an enormous pipe. Clouds of strongly odored smoke, tinted with the lights of the setting sun, had risen above his head in unremitting volumes for the last half hour. There was infinite contentment in his face, notwithstanding the fact that he had been meditating on a subject that was not altogether pleasant. But Captain Plum was, in a way, a philosopher, though one would not have guessed this fact from his appearance. He was, in the first place, a young man, not more than eight or nine and twenty, and his strong, rather thin face, tanned by exposure to the sea, was just now lighted up by eyes that shone with an unbounded good humor which any instant might take the form of laughter.

Genres: Adventure, Fiction

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Born in Owosso, Michigan he left high school without graduating but was able to pass the entrance exams to the University of Michigan where he studied journalism. In 1900, Curwood sold his first story while working for the Detroit News-Tribune. By 1909 he had saved enough money to travel to the Canadian northwest, a trip that provided the inspiration for his wilderness adventure stories. The success of his novels afforded him the opportunity to return to the Yukon and Alaska for several months each year that allowed him to write more than thirty such books.

By 1922, Curwood's writings had made him a very wealthy man and he fulfilled a childhood fantasy by building Curwood Castle in Owosso. Constructed in the style of an 18th century French chateau, the estate overlooked the Shiawassee River. In one of the home's two large turrets, Curwood set up his writing studio. Curwood also owned a camp in a remote area in Baraga County, Michigan, near the Huron Mountains.

An advocate of environmentalism, Curwood was appointed to the Michigan Conservation Commission in 1926. The following year, while on a Florida fishing trip, Curwood was bitten on the thigh by what was believed to have been a spider and had an immediate allergic reaction. Health problems related to the bite escalated over the next few months and infection set in that led to his death from blood poisoning.

Interred in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, his Curwood Castle is now a museum. During the first full weekend in June of each year, the city of Owosso holds the Curwood Festival to celebrate the city's heritage . Also in his honor, a mountain in L'Anse Township, Michigan was given the name Mount Curwood, and the L'Anse Township Park was renamed Curwood Park.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 1 out of 5]

This year for a few of my Literary Birthday authors I chose some who I have on what I call my One At A Time Please lists. That is where I save the authors whose books I would like to read in publication order. These lists usually involve older forgotten authors and the books are always available at Project Gutenberg.

James Oliver Curwood was born in June 1878. He wrote a great many books, and I have read two of them before this, which is of course what made him a feature on my infamous lists.

This book was published in 1908, along with another title (The Wolf Hunters). When wiki lists two for one year without more specific dates involved, I read whichever is listed first, so here we are.

And here we go. I am marking this book a DNF and moving on to the second one for 1908.

I tried, but this book is just too weird. And a little creepy. Set at the time when Mormons were the bad guys and being chased all over the country, the story deals with a ship's captain who visits a certain island in northern Michigan in hopes of getting revenge for an act of piracy that he believes the Mormons who live on this island were responsible for.

So we start off with the captain on the island pondering. And while he ponders he is being watched by a very strange man who turns out to be the treasurer of the 'King'. The King is a man with six wives who led his followers to this island after splitting from Brigham Young.

The Captain lets the crazy old man talk him into agreeing to deliver a packet to the president of the United States, in return for a visit to the island city where the Mormons live. He just wants to peek through windows and this is part of what made the book start to feel creepy. The captain could never decide whether he was disgusted by or attracted to the supposed wild life going on in this little society, and the more he thought about it, the less I wanted to know about the rest of the book.

DNF after two chapters and a few paragraphs.

[Jeff Dawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover did nothing for me.

The plot is, Captain Plum intends to retrieve the booty that was stolen from his sloop, Typhoon by the resident of St. James. He plans on meeting King Strang of the Mormons and give him an ultimatum, return what his people stole or he would bomb the city into ruins. When he makes landfall, he runs in a gentlemen named Obidiah who gives him a package that he wishes to be delivered to President Franklin Pierce.
The plot isn’t bad but the execution for me was thin at best. Whey did Plum fall fanatically in love with Marion? That made no sense to me. The dialogue was choppy and from about the halfway point on, every sentence had an exclamation point in it. Why was every character yelling? Made no sense to me.
The chapter formatting was a mess. Whoever loaded this up took no time to review it Tomorrow and tonight are one word, No hyphen is required.
The only scene that drew me in was when Neil and Plum were tied to the stake and would wind up strangling themselves. That was well written.
Overall, this just didn’t grab my attention. I kept waiting for it to end.
Two stars

[Lora]

I tried. There's this weird old stereotype guy who hops around in the woods, chortles continually to himself, and repeats everything he says, what others say, and possibly repeats stuff characters in other books say just because he overheard them talking. I couldn't take it. Then throw in an island of Mormons with a king and I just kinda bailed out while my own brain was still intact.

[Larry Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even more silly that most of Curwood's books. It seems that an enclave of Mormons, who live on an island in the northern part of Lake Michigan, engage in piracy. One such pirated ship belonged to Capt. Nathaniel Plum, and he decided to go visit the Mormons and demand they give him reparations for the goods/money they stole. His "plan" is just to waltz into the Mormon compound and confront the Mormon "king", one James Jessee Strang. He thinks this plot will "just work". Besides, he leaves his ship behind and thinks they'll cover his efforts by threatening to blow up the compound. Naturally, it takes the Mormons virtually no time to overcome the ship, but Capt. Plum doesn't know that. Doesn't even consider it a possibility.

Well, the first thing that happens is that he runs into an old guy, one Obadiah Price. He spends the night at Price's cabin, and plans on heading to the Mormon compound in the morning. The first thing he sees on leaving the cabin the next morning is a beautiful, young woman coming up to the cabin. Of course, she is surprised and flees, but not before Capt. Plum convinces himself that her wonderful eyes have bestowed a bounty of love on his personage. So, in addition to confronting Strang, he now also has to rescue the woman, whose name turns out to be Marion, from the possibility of being turned into yet another of Strang's wives.

Well, of course all sorts of difficulties ensue, mostly caused by Capt. Plum's inability to plan clearly, while providing "plan Bs" in the case of possible complications.

Naturally, after facing almost certain death a number of times, and waxing eloquently on the awesomeness of Marion's eyes, Capt. Plum and Marion escape for a better life together, and Strang gets what he deserves.

One really a 3* book, but better than 2*s, so I'd give it a 3*-, were that possible. [In my book, ***- would outrank **+, but then I'm weird that way.]

[Scott Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story wasn't bad but it has a little too much love at first sight, which I find to be common with novels from this era. The main character was also a bit too quick with plans to lie to and deceive his friends.
2.5 stars.

[Emma Fernández · Rating 3 out of 5]

Menudu culebrón

[lostinbookswiki ⭐️ ✨️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rollicking adventure...most of Curwood's books were set in the Northwest, but this one is very different. It's a historical novel of the Northeast in the early 1800s, and Captain Plum is most likely to have plenty of holes in his hide before the story is over.

I was particularly horrified by the concept of execution by being tied to a post in the wilderness...how utterly cruel a method it was! I have since encountered mentions of it in other books, but this was the first place I saw it.

The story is supposedly based on true events.

*Note to Mormon readers: do yourself a favor and skip this one...you won't enjoy it.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read my review at my blog.

[Federico Kereki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mormon pirates? I have read somewhere that there was a historical basis for this novel (Curwood's first) but I decidedly prefer his later ones, in the North West territories...

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Held my interest. Was about an area I knew and live near. Not all history was accurate.