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Publication
The History Press (2003), Edition: UK ed., 224 pages
Description
Pirates, shipwreck and slavery - these are the key themes in this story of an Englishman who spent 14 years of his life in captivity in Madagascar. Although Robert Drury wrote a book about his adventures in 1729, it has long been out of print. This book aims to track down the truth of his story.
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"Drury was both English and Malagasy...a Cockney Tandroy, fully belonging to neither society"
By sally tarbox on 14 July 2017
Format: Hardcover
Mildly interesting account of the life of Londoner Robert Drury, who in 1701, aged 13, set out to forge a career at sea. The East Indiaman came to grief, and
The archaeologist author gives plenty of background information - life in 1700s London, piracy in the Indian Ocean, the East India company...
Then we follow him and his colleagues as they attempt to find traces of Drury's life in modern-day Madagascar. Hampered by the temporary villages of the people, the lack of written records and Drury's own unreliable memories and phonetic spelling of local names ("King Hosintany... turns up in Drury's book under the delightful name of Woozington"), they nonetheless manage to locate many of the locations, while giving a picture of life in the remote south of the island.
The book finishes by looking at the controversy that persists over the book: was Drury really the author, or was it a later work by Daniel Defoe, a fiction masquerading as a true story? The research of the author leads him to conclude it is genuine, though likely edited by another.
I learned a lot and it's well researched, but wasn't hugely gripped by the writing.
By sally tarbox on 14 July 2017
Format: Hardcover
Mildly interesting account of the life of Londoner Robert Drury, who in 1701, aged 13, set out to forge a career at sea. The East Indiaman came to grief, and
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the teenager - who many years later was to publish his memoirs - found himself shipwrecked for many years in Madagascar, a harsh, violent and primitive world.The archaeologist author gives plenty of background information - life in 1700s London, piracy in the Indian Ocean, the East India company...
Then we follow him and his colleagues as they attempt to find traces of Drury's life in modern-day Madagascar. Hampered by the temporary villages of the people, the lack of written records and Drury's own unreliable memories and phonetic spelling of local names ("King Hosintany... turns up in Drury's book under the delightful name of Woozington"), they nonetheless manage to locate many of the locations, while giving a picture of life in the remote south of the island.
The book finishes by looking at the controversy that persists over the book: was Drury really the author, or was it a later work by Daniel Defoe, a fiction masquerading as a true story? The research of the author leads him to conclude it is genuine, though likely edited by another.
I learned a lot and it's well researched, but wasn't hugely gripped by the writing.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2002
Physical description
224 p.; 8.74 inches
ISBN
0750929383 / 9780750929387