| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Polly |
| Builder | Alden Briggs, Calvin Turner and Ichabod Thomas, Jr. |
| Completed | 1791 |
| Fate | swamped in storm, 15 December 1811. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 131 tons burden |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Brig |
| Crew | 7 |
Polly was an American brig that was swamped during a gale in late 1811, and that spent the next six months adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. Edgar Allan Poe mentioned the saga of Polly in his novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . [1]
Polly was a 131-ton brig constructed at Pembroke, Massachusetts in 1791, probably by shipbuilders Alden Briggs, Calvin Turner, and Ichabod Thomas, Jr. [2] During her service life, the ship was home ported in Boston, Massachusetts.
On December 12, 1811, Polly departed Boston with a cargo of lumber and provisions (including salted meat) bound for the Virgin Islands. [3] The ship was commanded by Captain Casneau, [4] and carried eight others: the mate, four seamen, an Indian cook, [4] a passenger named Mr. Hunt, and a 12-year-old [3] African-American slave or servant girl belonging to Hunt. [1]
Three days out, on December 15, Polly was caught in a severe gale. [5] The storm capsized the ship and the masts were either carried away by the storm, or cut away by the crew. Relieved of the topweight, Polly rolled back onto an even keel. The ship was completely filled with water, but the cargo of lumber kept the ship afloat. [6] However, two people, one of whom was Hunt, were lost during the storm, and the girl was badly injured. [3] [6]
The survivors began to salvage the wreck for usable items. Quantities of salted pork were recovered, and the survivors ate that raw until the cook managed to start a fire twelve days after the wreck, by using two sticks rubbed together. [6] The supplies of salted pork ran out after forty days, and the survivors were forced to eat barnacles scraped off the hull, and the occasional shark and fish. The barnacles were exhausted by mid-April, but the survivors managed to catch additional fish. [6] Stores of fresh water ran out after eighteen days, and water was subsequently obtained from a makeshift still made out of a tea kettle, a metal pot, and a pistol. [4] [6] Seawater was boiled in the pot, and condensation was captured in the tea kettle. [4]
Over the next 191 days, Polly drifted across the Atlantic. The hulk was passed by over a dozen ships, but none offered assistance. [1] Henry Howes, the first mate, [6] was the first of the survivors to die, either 43 [4] or 50 days [6] after the wreck. Three other crewmen followed suit. Some references indicate the cook died at this time, [6] while others indicate the cook survived the ordeal. [4] By the 65th day, only two survivors remained. [4]
On June 19, 1812, Captain Casneau and either the cook [4] or a crewmember named Samuel Badger, [1] were rescued by Captain Featherstone of the British ship Fame, en route to London from Rio de Janeiro. The crew were picked up 600 leagues (2,900 km) west of Marrakesh, [5] having drifted over two thousand miles across the Atlantic. [1] On July 9, the survivors were transferred to the brig Dromero and taken back to the United States. [1]
The story of Polly is mentioned in an in-character footnote in Chapter 13 of Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket . Poe's narrator, Arthur Pym, refers to the ordeal as similar to the one he experiences in the course of the narrative. [1] Poe's source for the material may have been R. Thomas' Remarkable Events and Remarkable Shipwrecks, published in 1836. [7]
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. Poe is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
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"MS. Found in a Bottle" is an 1833 short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The plot follows an unnamed narrator at sea who finds himself in a series of harrowing circumstances. As he nears his own disastrous death while his ship drives ever southward, he writes an "MS.", or manuscript, telling of his adventures which he casts into the sea. Some critics believe the story was meant as a satire of typical sea tales.
Pym or PYM may refer to:
Jeremiah N. Reynolds, also known as J. N. Reynolds, was an American newspaper editor, lecturer, explorer and author who became an influential advocate for scientific expeditions. His lectures on the possibility of a hollow Earth appear to have influenced Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838) and his 1839 account of the whale Mocha Dick, Mocha Dick: Or the White Whale of the Pacific, influenced Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851).
The Conchologist's First Book is an illustrated textbook on conchology issued in 1839, 1840, and 1845. The book was originally printed under Edgar Allan Poe's name. The text was based on Manual of Conchology by Thomas Wyatt, an English author and lecturer.
The Journal of Julius Rodman, Being an Account of the First Passage across the Rocky Mountains of North America Ever Achieved by Civilized Man is an unfinished serial novel by American author Edgar Allan Poe published in 1840.
An Antarctic Mystery is a two-volume novel by Jules Verne. Written in 1897, it is a response to Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. It follows the adventures of the narrator and his journey from the Kerguelen Islands aboard Halbrane.
William Henry Leonard Poe, often referred to as Henry Poe, was an American sailor, amateur poet and the older brother of Edgar Allan Poe and Rosalie Poe.
Not to Be Reproduced is a painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte. It is currently owned by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
Tales of Mystery & Imagination is a popular title for posthumous compilations of writings by American author, essayist and poet Edgar Allan Poe and was the first complete collection of his works specifically restricting itself to his suspenseful and related tales.
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A Strange Discovery is an 1899 novel by Charles Romeyn Dake and is a sequel to Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket which was published in 1838. It follows the experiences of the narrator, an Englishman, during his stay in Bellevue, Illinois, and his encounter with Dirk Peters, Pym's sailor companion in Poe's novel. On his deathbed, Peters relates the missing conclusion to Poe's tale.
Pym is the third novel by American author Mat Johnson, published on March 1, 2011. A satirical fantasy inspired by The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Edgar Allan Poe's only novel, the book explores racial politics and identity in America, and Antarctica. The novel was written over a period of nine years and has been well received by critics, who have praised its lighthearted and humorous style of social criticism.
The Giant is the third studio album by the German funeral doom metal band Ahab released through their long time label mate Napalm Records. The lyrics are based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
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