In Print
The disaster was in the national news as soon as three of survivors salvaged a small boat and sailed to the mainland for help.
In addition to the several first hand accounts, the story of Lost Island has resurfaced periodically over the years. The list below contains only a few versions:
- In 1871 Harper's New Monthly carried a story about the capsizing of the steamer Nautilus and Jim Frisbee, the ship's second steward, the only survivor.
- Lafcadio Hearn's Chita: A Memory of Last Island (1889) based on the Last Island hurricane of 1856, was a popular story when published; however, it either created or perpetuated several myths about the tragedy. One of the main sources of Hearn's novel was identified as the account written by Iberville Parish, Louisiana sugar planter Michael Shlatre. After publication of the Chita, Michael Shlatre's document went missing after being borrowed but never returned. The document was discovered in the Iberville Parish courthouse in Plaquemine, LA in 1936.
- Bill Dixon's Last Days of Last Island was written using information from various archives in an attempt to be historically accurate. The numerous references include a newspaper article, a few books, and accounts of the survivors, many of whom are quoted.
Read more about this topic: 1856 Last Island Hurricane
Famous quotes containing the word print:
“The Anglo-American can indeed cut down, and grub up all this waving forest, and make a stump speech, and vote for Buchanan on its ruins, but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What do I care
that the stream is trampled,
the sand on the stream-bank
still holds the print of your foot:
the heel is cut deep.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)