Customer Reviews

Mutiny on the Globe: The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After making an honest attempt at reading Heffernan's account of the mutiny on the Globe I decided the story was much too interesting to be spoiled by his telling of events.
Gregory Gibson's excellent book Demon of the Waters tells the same story in a far more exciting and informative manner, a real page-turner at the level of Junger and Philbrick.

There has been quite a glut lately of books about nautical disasters, both recent and historic. Some like "The Perfect Storm" and "In the Heart of the Sea" have been excellent. Others have been less so. Unfortunately, "Mutiny on the Globe," while not awful, belongs in the latter category. It faces some tough competition, being one of two books released this year on the savage mutiny led bed Nantucket whaleman Samuel Comstock in 1822. It is also in competition with "Batavia's Graveyard," another book released a couple of months ago about a historical mutiny which is far superior to this one.

Part of the problem is that only a brief portion of "Mutiny on the Globe" is devoted to the voyage and the mutiny itself. Author Thomas Heffernan spends a long time detailing the early life of Smauel Comstock, which is not all that interesting and pales by comparison to "Batavia's Graveyard"'s gruesome accounts of life at sea during the so-called golden age of sail. The book is also strangely lacking in details about Nantucket whaling, which were so memorable in "In the Heart of the Sea" (the events of which took place around the same time). The last third of the narrative is devoted to the stories of the survivors of the mutiny, though the accounts of the two sailors who were forced to live in captivity among Marshall Island natives for two years before being rescued are also not worth the amount of narrative space they are given.

Heffernan is a decent storyteller and tries his best to liven up his tale. The main problem seems to be that the material he had to work with seems more suited to a long magazine article than a full length book.

There is simply not enough material here to justify a book. I got to the point where Comstock died and said, "That's it?" This should have been a magazine article at best. The actual mutiny and aftermath take up 50 pages or so. The majority of the book is two types of filler (along with several pointless appendices to get the page count up). The first is an excessively long rundown of the very few facts known about Samuel Comstock's prior life padded with a ton of speculation from the author. The second (and majority of the book) is an account of the two survivors living among the natives. This has some interesting points, but not enough, and is a completely separate and largely unrelated story from the mutiny itself.

Thomas Farel Heffernan has all the elements of a swift and exciting summer read in Mutiny on the Globe (The Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock). The author pares the story down to its essentials, the bloody mutiny and its aftermath. Some historical context is lost in the rush (for that readers should consult the excellent In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, a wonderfully detailed book covering the same historical period). What may be lacking in context is replaced by breathtaking, and often bloody, action. This is the perfect summery beach history book that provides thrills without sacrificing intelligence.

First let me say I was very impressed with Heffernan's meticulous scholarship. This is a well documented history, complete with end notes and appendicies.

That being said, where this book excells is in the telling of the tale. Heffernan is a master storyteller. He brings the story of Samuel Comstock to life, beginning with his early days in Nantucket and later in New York city, showing how his early obsession with war gaming versus other New York gangs stayed with him until his untimely death at 20 years old. Comstock really was a tragic figure in the classic sense: his own mania which was responsible for his leadership (although a usurped one) led to his downfall. The mutiny is a bloody horrowshow. The time spent among the natives of the Mili atoll is sumptuous as well as nerve-wracking for the marooned survivors.

While I can't compare "Mutiny" to Melville's classic "Moby Dick," I would have to say that were Melville alive today, he would heap praise upon this soon-to-be classic of seafaring documentay/drama.

The author's speculations were at times annoying.
But what I disliked the most about this book was
it incomplete summary of the folks involved.
The author wrote a good deal about the two
stranded survivors. Yet in the closing of the
book, the fate of one is ommitted. This was
aggravating.

Mutiny on the Globe by Thomas Farel Heffernan is a story written for the causual history reader about a disgruntled and insane whaleman Samuel Comstock who, in 1822, sought to live out his horrible fantasy. Comstock's dream was to take over a ship by killing the captain and his mates, sailing to an island, enslaving the natives who-as his personal military force-would kill the remaining crew and worship Comstock as their maniacal king. On the whaling ship Globe, Comstock achieved the first two ends; however, his ultimate plans were vanquished. Heffernan's work is based almost entirely on primary sources. Comstock's early life is described through the work of brother William Comstock (referring to the mutineer as both the "terrible whaleman" and "our hero"). The mutiny is seen, in large part, through the eyes of Samuel's other brother George, a fellow member of the Globe crew. The description of the island invaded by the Globe (on the Mili Atoll) is found in The Narratives of surviving crew members William Lay and Cyrus Hussey. The rescue of the crew members is based primarily on the memoirs of Captain Hiram Paulding.

I found the story to be a little disappointing. The main character is no longer a factor before the halfway point of the book. Samuel Comstock is such a fascinating character: psychopathic on one level but then revealing strong religious sensibilities when he conducted burial services for those he killed and spared the life of Gilbert Smith, who he suspected of being a threat to his ends, allegedly because he respected Smith's moral standing. Then, alas, Comstock is gone and the story shifts to Lay and Hussey trying to survive on the islands.

The author is limited to what sources are available. A lot of questions are not answered; most likely through no fault of the author. Why did the natives, who regarded the white intruders as "visitors from outerspace" spare the lives of Lay and Hussey? What was the reaction of Samuel's parents to news of the mutiny and their son's role in it? Did not brothers George and William note their reaction in their writings?

For the most part, the book is fast-moving (the body of the text is only 215 pages) and written in an engaging and sometimes exciting style. The final 40 pages or so after Paulding and the rescue ship Dolphin accomplished its mission is a bit tedious as the new arrivals struggled to tolerate the natives. The Afterward seemed a bit unfocused with a preoccupation with Captain Percival's attempts to have the prostitution ban lifted on the ship as they stayed in the missionary Hiram Bingham-dominated Hawaiian islands. Heffernan also breezes through a question on whether Hussey or Lay fathered children while on the islands (the author thinks not). Heffernan continues with the fates of those involved but more post-island information, if available, would be welcomed. What was the public reaction to the mutiny? Were there any letters to the editor in the newspapers on the subject? The ending seemed flowery and hard to follow: "On one ship the curtain comes down on deeds of blood and a mind sailing by itself-things of wonder" (p. 215). There are many appendices including George Comstock's account of the mutiny that is published in full for the first time. A list of Globe crew members, including their heights, is very interesting. These appendices alone make the book worthwhile to anyone interested in the subject. The book also includes a section of photos (mainly sketches and title pages of primary sources). Photos of the islands as they exist today (is Surgeon Benjamin Wells' grave plaque still there?) would be welcomed. Mutiny on the Globe, while not perfect, is a compelling book that will probably encourage many readers to seek other books on Samuel Comstock.

I have read a number of whaling/mutiny/lost at sea books in the last decade or so and was surprised as I trudged through this volume and found that the bits of fact and history were highly peppered with the author's own opinions and interjections. There is a lot of moralizing here, almost sermon like at times, and it completely gets in the way of the story. Heffernan may have been better served writing a novelization of this terrible and bloody event rather than a "history" as his histrionics many time take center stage. The book isn't terrible. It gets the facts across. But the best part of the book is actually the appendix that presents the actual journal of George Comstock (the mutineer's younger brother) as well as a few other historical tidbits. The story would have been much better served by a telling of the facts without all of the personal insight. I have purchased a copy of "Demon of the Waters" and am looking forward to a more direct approach to this wild story.

I found this story interesting and the author's rendition engaging. Unlike other reviewers, I was interested in Heffernan's exploration of Comstock's physical and mental development for what light it sheds on his subsequent fantasy and savagery. This earth has seen psychopaths before today's headlines and we may yet learn how they emerge by examining those current and historical in as much detail as possible.

Availability of original and valid source material could not have been substantial and so I appreciated Heffernan's effort at accuracy. It is true that Comstock disappears from the story early but I would have been disappointed if Heffernan had not followed the mutiny survivors' stories to the end of their lives. To follow them was to complete the tale. Obviously their lives had to be defined forever after by what they experienced at Comstock's hand on the high sea.

If you like this story and the whaling period, then I recommend In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick.

I read this book while sitting on a beach on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. As I gazed at the ocean in the direction of Nantucket, the bloody horror of this mutiny sent chills up my spin. Mutiny On The Globe is not for the weak at heart. It's a graphic and telling story of life, death and survival. Heffernan brings this horrifying story to you full force. The Fatal Journey Of Samuel Comstock is for most New Englanders interested in our old whaling history and tales of the high seas. Fine Job Heffernan!