Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World

This is an incredibly well composed book about tragedy, brotherhood, respect, survival, and the ingenuity of humans and their will to survive. It also clearly illustrates the difference between the power of unity versus every man for himself. In the beginning, the book does start off as cumbersome to read. Once you get past the initial couple of chapters, oh, you're in for a smooth ride that will have you turning pages. The story itself is incredible, two sets of sailors from different ships getting shipwrecked on the same island! Both facing starkly different outcomes. You are going to absolutely fall in love with these characters, the author does an amazing job of characterization here. Every character is expertly built from historical accounts and the author's own ability to breathe life into their long since passed lives. She's not just going to tell you the story of something that happened one hundreds years ago from a distance. This story is told to you on an almost day-by-day basis where you feel like you are there. You are going through this with these characters. Every setback that they have, every triumph that they have, you are a part of that. She does an incredible job of building character relationships, were you can almost see the reactions they would have had toward one another based on a particular action before you even read the authors explanation of their actual reactions. Every character's personality is cleanly portrayed. The captain, a man with a hard exterior with a vulnerable side that cares enormously about his ethics and morality. The jack-of-all-trades Frenchman... Although it is a common belief that Sailors, Wailers in particular, where a group of hard, rough individuals, there is a tenderness to the story that brings to life the side of these men most people weren't privy to. I read a review here that an engineer wrote in appreciation for the author's ability to explain how they manufactured survival tools and invented new ways to survive. That is true. There is a lot of technical explanation and nautical knowledge here that seafaring people will really be able to enjoy. Engineers will love the, well... the ingenuity. Survivalists, long distance families who know what it's like to be so far from a loved one, those partial to bromances. There's something for everyone in this book. Just buy it, read it. Having read an account like this will undoubtedly make your life seem just a little bit better, just knowing that you read the best portrayal of this historical event possible. The only portrayal that can put the reader right there in the thick of it. This being said, I am glad I read this Joan Druett book first! Why? Because I'm also now reading one of her other books, in the wake of Madness. I can tell you for a fact that if I had read the ladder book first oh, I would have never considered by another one of her books. I don't know what the difference was between the time she wrote in the wake of Madness and the time she wrote island of the Lost, but whatever was going on with her when she wrote island of the Lost she needs to continue cloning that same energy.

Great story

This book was really interesting. It's fascinating how two crews ended up on the same island and one totally fell apart and nearly all of them died while they other pulled together and all came back home. I very much enjoyed reading this book.

In the 1800s the sub-Antarctic islands called The Aucklands were a shipwreck story being written again and again and again. Eventually the New Zealand government would even install a provisioned castaway hut on the main island due to the number of shipwrecks occurring. Being shipwrecked on these islands was not your sandy beach, blue sky and coconuts story. This was a very inhospitable place (weather and terrain) that took extraordinary strength and will to survive. The castaway hut would come in handy, however, not for the main shipwreck stories of this book. The castaway hut would be, in part, a response to these. This is the story of near simultaneous shipwreck group 1 of the ship Grafton, and shipwreck 2 of the ship Ivercauld. These two groups of castaways would never see each other or know each other were there. History would show them to be a contrast of one group working together to stave off hunger,depression and exposure (Grafton) while the other group being largely aimless, poorly led, where some turned sub human in their actions(Ivercauld). These are their true stories to the best of first hand account, history and recollection provide. It’s amazingly fascinating. The author did great work in picking the subject and researching the topic. In that regards it is 5 stars. Unfortunately the presentation of the stories and/or the cohesiveness of the writing just didn’t fully capture me. At points it felt like I was reading a chopped and dry repost. On this front I gave it 3 stars. I’ll definitely read this author again (again I was wowed by the story itself) but I hope her writing better captures my attention.

Survival after a shipwreck on a desolate island is a common enough plot line in literature. The Odyssey, The Tempest, Robinson Crusoe. Joan Druett takes the tale and adds in Antarctic weather. An added bonus is the irony of a second wreck on the other side of the island, unknown to both sets of waylaid sailors. ISLAND OF THE LOST was a big hit with me. Though other reviewers have admonished the author about the frequent killing of seals and worse, seal pups, this is survivalist lit, not a Disney fairy tale.. The men in the wreck of the Grafton were lucky; they had two able leaders and a crew of teachable men. Captain Musgrave and the Frenchman, Raynal, offered the desire and the will and the organized work to survive a forbidding climate. What should have been a long and terrible death in the one of Earth's most inhospitable locations becomes a study in ingenious solutions to crafting the needs of shelter, food, and water. On the other side of the same island, a second crew lacks everything that could keep 19 surviving sailors of the wreck of the Invercaulde alive. A crew of untrained and unmotivated men is led by a narrow-minded, somewhat pompous captain, Dalgarno, and the equally problematic Robert Holding worry about rank among their crew, doling out duties while watching from afar, and think only immediate needs, these men led the others into chaos. The 19 survivors dwindle by the week, falling to starvation and illness. Nothing exists in Nature to assist them in living. Nothing exists within them or among them to assist in building a community. The books divides between the hopeful and purposeful camaraderie of the Grafton crew and the fall to depravity among the survival of the fittest "winners" of the Invercaualde. These true stories seem to pose a morality tale. But the ending is surprising. While both camps of starving men do feast on seals and seal pups throughout the story, it is the avaricious nature of the entire seal-hunting industry that comes to the fore of criticism, the slaughter of every seal--male, female; pup, juvenile, adult -- that decimates colonies of sea life all for profit. This is a riveting and surprisingly suspenseful read.

So much good material in this story which makes one wonder why this book falls flat. I would have liked more compare/contrast between the two parties and their leadership. Why one succeeded so brilliantly while the other barely made it out alive. There is a lot here that could have been developed and interpreted. Instead, as several others have mentioned, she spends far too much time dwelling on the slaughtering of seals and other insignificant details and unrelated information.

Well written, it kept me enthralled the entire book. The last section of the book puts to light the massive amount of research she has done in a monumental effort to produce an accurate depiction of what actually happened. It is interesting to compare the two groups of castaways and how the right leadership, and teamwork can inspire hope and the will to surmount the seemingly impossible. In contrast the opposite leads quickly to despair and death. Excellent work and a joy to read. And for those who think it talked too much about killing seals (like many of the reviews), that was the way they subsisted and occupied large portions of their time. If people don't want to hear about what really happened, they should read a fiction vs historical novel. Sugar coating the facts for the folks that like to have their animals butchered by others is just plain silly. Sea Lions are cute, but when you are starving, you need to kill to survive. This is the brutal reality of being shipwrecked.

It’s difficult to write a nonfiction that’s basically a novel but it was done, and done with a lot of fidelity to the truth. I usually only read nonfiction that’s more bare so it was a great experience to have! I learned a lot and the author makes you feel like you are really there witnessing every event unfold. I truly enjoyed this book.

This book is an absolute gem. Wonderful account of just how hazardous sailing in the 1800's was in the sub-antarctic waters in the Pacific. Couldn't put it down.

This was as gripping as an action novel, but with scientific input and reconstruction of scenes and social interactions that made it highly interesting too. A thoroughly well researched book from an author with a clear passion for history, pioneering/sailing, and mystery. Couldnt put it down. Highly recommended

Became a big fan of Joan Druett with this book! The smooth narration, the incredible attention to details and the events of 1800s themselves blend to form a fantastic read. The characters portrayal, especially that of Captain Musgrave and Fracois Raynard is compelling - you feel so much for both these men towards the end of the book. All in all, an inspiring story of survival and grit. Highly recommend it.

I didn't buy this book expecting to learn anything more than about shipwrecks and survival, but there are so many other intriguing pieces to it, like the sub-antarctic sealing industry, that there is no question that I will be expanding my reading to learn more about this time period. The book's synopsis is a bit misleading; yes, there were two shipwrecks on the island that overlapped much of the same time period, but the focus is on the wreck of the Grafton and its small crew. There are also very serious environmental and seasonal factors (timing) that contributed to the shipwrecks survivors; differences in leadership played a part of how well each group succeeded, but was not the only defining factor in my opinion. As well, and something that the pulled the book together for me, each wreck had at least one individual who had a level of resourcefulness that contributed greatly to each groups survival. The forge building or the coracle building as examples! The author's ability to meld two separate incidents and her writing style that is highly engaging and to the point, made for a relatively quick read and I look forward to reading more of her work on naval history. Highly recommend this book if this topic or region of the world is of interest. However, would caution that there is a great deal of emphasis on killing seals, especially pups, as a main food source and this may be a big turn off to some readers. As the author notes in the afterword, one group of survivors were mentally prepared to kill seals. This was the one area of the book that I was not mentally prepared for myself!

Fantastic true story, more realistic and more dramatic than a fictional story could be. Contains just the right amount of background information, explanations, speculation and interactions between the characters, and kept me reading and reading to find out what happened next.