Title:

Left For Dead

Author:

Eric Jay Dolin

Category:

Non-fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

December 9, 2025

he complete title of this book is Left For Dead - Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. (Why do non-fiction books merit such long titles?) There is a whole subgenre of non-fiction books telling the stories of people who overcome incredible odds to survive disasters. Frequently, these events took place in the Age of Sail and involve failed expeditions to the polar regions. I was picking up a different disaster book, The Island of Blue Foxes from the library shelf, when I noticed the intriguing title of Left For Dead and picked it up as well. Left For Dead is a fast read - 260 pages in the hardcover edition - with a surprising number of black and white pictures that make the pages go quickly.

Left For Dead is the story of an American sealing vessel, the Nanina that set out for the Falkland Islands on April 12, 1812, with 13 men aboard. Their plan was to sail to the Falkland islands and kill a whole lot of seals. The skins and oil from the dead animals might make them a decent profit. But after several months of slaughter, they happened to come upon a shipwrecked British ship, the Isabella. The Americans did not know that the War of 1812 had been declared against Great Britian (though they had known war was likely when they set sail). They decided that the best course of action was to cease their sealing operation and transport the British passengers back to safety. Plans were made to gather supplies, and stow the seal pelts already captured, and make room for the many British (there were 54 people on the Isabella, they greatly outnumbered the American sealers) - the stranded British included a contingent of twelve armed marines.

Unbeknownst to the Americans, a few men from the Isabella had taken a small boat and embarked on a long, perilous voyage from the Falklands to Argentina. These intrepid men succeeded in their venture, and informed the British navy of the plight of their marooned fellow passengers (the men left on their daring voyage before the American ship discovered the Isabella). An armed British frigate, the Nancy, under the command of Lieutenant D'Aranda, set sail on a rescue mission to the Falklands. What happened next is a tale of treachery and greed and astonishing inhumanity. The dishonourable British act with a complete disregard for decency or morality. Five men, including three British men, are left behind to die on the Falkland Islands. The majority of the book describes what happened to those five men.

Other than the amazing tale of the five men attempting to survive in a harsh environment, there were other parts of Left For Dead that I found interesting. The British are seemingly drunk all the time. The reason the Isabella wrecked in the Falklands is because the shipmaster, Higton, is drinking and smoking and cannot be bothered to be standing watch. Even when a scared sailor reports there are rocks ahead, Higton cannot be roused from his cabin. When the Isabella does founder upon the rocks, the reaction of the passengers is to get rip roaring drunk on the beach!

Another disturbing thing to read is that absolute disregard for any sort of sustainability for natural resources. The Americans are in the Falklands because sealers have wiped out so many colonies of seals elsewhere. Even when the five men are stranded, they continue to kill huge numbers of seals, apparently hoping that someday they will be rescued and can still make a profit. During this era, armies of hunters annihilated the populations of cod, beaver, whales, sea otters, bison and seals - no one apparently has any thought for tomorrow.

One of the Falkland Islands has feral hogs on it. Previous voyages had released pigs on the island so that future expeditions would be able to resupply with pigs at the Falklands as they sailed in the Southern Ocean. The stranded men kill huge numbers of these wild hogs. I cannot fathom why so much meat was necessary. One pig is a lot of meat, and yet five men kill multiple hogs at a time, and soon are hunting for more. Did they just eat a few choice portions of each pig? Did the pig meat quickly spoil despite the cold environment?

Greedy, amoral Lieutenant D'Aranda's name does not live in infamy like that of Captain Bligh. But what history does record of his lifetime makes clear what an abject villain he was. Ultimately, D'Aranda does not profit in the end, which was satisfying to read.

Other good books of survival that I thought were worth reading include The Wager, The Island of Blue Foxes, In the Kingdom of Ice, Island of the Lost and of course, the must-read classic The Endurance. I see that there are many more books describing many more disasters still on the shelves. It is amazing anyone at all survived the Age of Exploration.