Wrecked on the Feejees
Printed on the Island of Nantucket, from which port William S. Cary sailed on the Oeno in 1824.
Experience of a Nantucket man a Century Ago, Who was Sole Survivor of Whaleship Oeno and Lived for Nine Years Among Cannibals of South Sea Islands.
One of the true tales left to posterity by the hardy men of Nantucket who went to the far corners of the earth in search of whales.
The Inquirer and Mirror Press Nantucket, Mass. 1949
This thrilling tale was compiled from the log-book of William S. Cary, of Nantucket, the sole survivor of the crew of ship Oeno , which was wrecked on Turtle Island, in the Pacific Ocean, on the 5th of April, 1825. It was first published in the Nantucket Journal in 1887, in installments, Cary's journal of his experiences having been discovered in one of the fish-houses below 'Sconset bank a few years before.
The Wreck of the Oeno is a personal description of the loss of a Nantucket whaleship, the capture and massacre of all but one of the crew, and the incidents of the life of the survivor among the cannibals of the South Sea Islands.
The ship Oeno was owned by Aaron Mitchell, of Nantucket, and was commanded by Capt. Samuel Riddell. She sailed from this island early in November, 1824, and as was usual in those days on account of the bar at the mouth of Nantucket harbor, went over to Edgartown to load for sea. The ship then proceeded, via the Cape of Good Hope, to the Bay of Islands. That was the last heard of her for nearly six years, and it was thought she had been lost at sea with all on board.
In 1830, however, the owner at Nantucket received a letter from William S. Cary, one of the crew, bringing the startling information that the ship had been lost on Turtle Island and that all of the crew had been massacred by the natives with the exception of himself, and that he was then living among the islanders.
The Oeno's crew consisted of Samuel Riddell, master; William Shaw, mate; —— Drew, second mate; three boatsteerers, a cooper, a carpenter, a cook, and a dozen foremast hands.