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The Singing Bones: A Novel of the Life and Times of Naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller
The Singing Bones recounts the life and times of eighteenth century polymath and explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller, the first European naturalist to visit Alaska.
The first to propose that America was originally peopled by migrants from Siberia, Steller was aboard the packet boat St. Peter commanded by Vitus Bering on the Second Great Northern Expedition sponsored by the Russian Admiralty to determine if Asia and North America were connected by land or separated by a sea. When the St. Peter was wrecked on Bering Island in what was later named the Bering Sea, Steller cured the survivors, who were marooned and dying of scurvy, while making remarkable discoveries in natural history. He was first to describe the behavior and biology of the northern fur seal and Steller's sea lion, and his descriptions of the whale-sized Steller's sea cow and spectacled cormorant (both now extinct) are all we know about these exquisite creatures as living beings.
The castaways eventually built a small vessel from the St. Peter's wreckage and sailed back to Kamchatka in autumn 1742, where Steller continued his explorations, in part while living with the indigenous Itelmen people.
A blend of narrative adventure and biography, this historical first-person novel chronicles the professional visions and conflicted life of a deeply fascinating, flawed, and courageous man who devoted everything to advancing the frontiers of science and improving the lives of the native Siberians.
The first to propose that America was originally peopled by migrants from Siberia, Steller was aboard the packet boat St. Peter commanded by Vitus Bering on the Second Great Northern Expedition sponsored by the Russian Admiralty to determine if Asia and North America were connected by land or separated by a sea. When the St. Peter was wrecked on Bering Island in what was later named the Bering Sea, Steller cured the survivors, who were marooned and dying of scurvy, while making remarkable discoveries in natural history. He was first to describe the behavior and biology of the northern fur seal and Steller's sea lion, and his descriptions of the whale-sized Steller's sea cow and spectacled cormorant (both now extinct) are all we know about these exquisite creatures as living beings.
The castaways eventually built a small vessel from the St. Peter's wreckage and sailed back to Kamchatka in autumn 1742, where Steller continued his explorations, in part while living with the indigenous Itelmen people.
A blend of narrative adventure and biography, this historical first-person novel chronicles the professional visions and conflicted life of a deeply fascinating, flawed, and courageous man who devoted everything to advancing the frontiers of science and improving the lives of the native Siberians.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 8, 2019
About the author
Stephen Spotte
36 books22 followersStephen Spotte, a marine scientist born and raised in West Virginia, is the author of 23 books including seven works of fiction and two memoirs. Spotte has also published more than 80 papers on marine biology, ocean chemistry and engineering, and aquaculture. His field research has encompassed the Canadian Arctic, Bering Sea, West Indies, Indo-West Pacific, Central America, and the Amazon basin of Ecuador and Brazil. ANIMAL WRONGS is his fifth novel. He lives in Longboat Key, Florida.
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February 17, 2020
This is a novelization of the life of naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller, who, in 1741 accompanied Russian explorer Vitus Bering on his second expedition eastward from Kamchatka. Steller, being a man of many hats, also served as ship’s physician and Bering’s spiritual advisor.
The story of the expedition is the largest part of the book. The ship, under Bering’s guidance, successfully sighted the Alaska mainland and made landfall on several islands now part of Alaska. They made mostly unsuccessful contact with a very few native people. Steller described many marine animals and plants unknown or little known to Russians.
It was an ill-fated voyage though, as a good part of the crew, including Bering himself passed away from scurvy. Steller knew how to prevent this disease using lore he had gained from native inhabitants in Kamchatka. His advice was spurned, until shipwrecked and their boat entirely broken, Steller was able to provide the necessary fresh herbs and meat as well as the benefits of fresh (not brackish) water and save part of the crew.
The story is fascinating. I knew nothing about the Russian voyages to the east and Alaska. I tend to think of exploration from east to west in the US, or the Spanish explorations northward. These voyages by Russia on what are now the far western edges of the United States, were several decades before the American Revolutionary war.
However, I found the novel’s voice somewhat lacking. It often has the stilted quality of 18th century journals (on suchandsuch a date we went here or there), and lacking details. At other times he uses bits of profanity –such as Steller’s father having so many children, he almost fucked himself out of a seat at the dinner table. Is this profanity consistent with a journal written in the mid 1700’s? I have no idea.
Overall If you enjoy stories of exploration and discovery or the history of this area, this book might well be of interest.
I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers in return for an unbiased review.
The story of the expedition is the largest part of the book. The ship, under Bering’s guidance, successfully sighted the Alaska mainland and made landfall on several islands now part of Alaska. They made mostly unsuccessful contact with a very few native people. Steller described many marine animals and plants unknown or little known to Russians.
It was an ill-fated voyage though, as a good part of the crew, including Bering himself passed away from scurvy. Steller knew how to prevent this disease using lore he had gained from native inhabitants in Kamchatka. His advice was spurned, until shipwrecked and their boat entirely broken, Steller was able to provide the necessary fresh herbs and meat as well as the benefits of fresh (not brackish) water and save part of the crew.
The story is fascinating. I knew nothing about the Russian voyages to the east and Alaska. I tend to think of exploration from east to west in the US, or the Spanish explorations northward. These voyages by Russia on what are now the far western edges of the United States, were several decades before the American Revolutionary war.
However, I found the novel’s voice somewhat lacking. It often has the stilted quality of 18th century journals (on suchandsuch a date we went here or there), and lacking details. At other times he uses bits of profanity –such as Steller’s father having so many children, he almost fucked himself out of a seat at the dinner table. Is this profanity consistent with a journal written in the mid 1700’s? I have no idea.
Overall If you enjoy stories of exploration and discovery or the history of this area, this book might well be of interest.
I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers in return for an unbiased review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review