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The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail
New York Times • “The Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026” An astonishing true story—one of the most gripping maritime sagas of the nineteenth century—told by our era’s “expert literary steersman” ( Washington Post ).
About The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail
New York Times • “The Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026” An astonishing true story—one of the most gripping maritime sagas of the nineteenth century—told by our era’s “expert literary steersman” ( Washington Post ). From the best-selling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters comes the story of the American whaleship Mentor , wrecked in 1832 on a remote reef in the western Pacific. With supplies dwindling, the eleven surviving crewmen face not only the miseries of shipwreck in unfamiliar territory but also the profound uncertainty of contact with the Indigenous people of the Micronesian archipelago of Palau, who within days approach the deserted men brandishing axes, clubs, and spears. In this gripping saga of cultural collision, tribal wars, and dashed hopes, award-winning historian Eric Jay Dolin vividly reconstructs the Mentor ’s doomed voyage, the years of perilous captivity, and the delicate negotiations and fraught naval rescue mission that followed. The Wreck of the Mentor is at once a powerful story of survival and a revealing window into the great Age of Sail—a time when maritime ambition collided with local sovereignty, and when the outcome of one voyage rippled across oceans and empires.
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More by Eric Jay Dolin
When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail (Unabridged)
Rebels at Sea : Privateering in the American Revolution
Leviathan : The History of Whaling in America
Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
Brilliant Beacons : A History of the American Lighthouse
Black Flags, Blue Waters : The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World
A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes
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The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail — frequently asked
- Is The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail on Spotify?
- We haven't confirmed The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail on Spotify's audiobook catalog yet. Spotify audiobooks are included with Premium (up to a monthly listening limit) in supported markets.
- Is The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail on Apple Books?
- Yes — The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail is available as an audiobook on Apple Books.
- Who wrote The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail?
- The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail is by Eric Jay Dolin.
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