The Open Boat - Publication History

Publication History

Crane's report of the incident appeared on the front page of the New York Press on January 7, 1897, only three days after his rescue, and was quickly reprinted in various other papers. The account, titled "Stephen Crane's Own Story", concentrates mainly on the sinking of the Commodore, and the ensuing chaos. Crane dedicates just two paragraphs to the fate of his compatriots and himself on the dinghy, while detailing their inability to save those stranded on the sinking ship:

The cook let go of the line. We rowed around to see if we could not get a line from the chief engineer, and all this time, mind you, there were no shrieks, no groans, but silence, silence and silence, and then the Commodore sank. She lurched to windward, then swung afar back, righted and dove into the sea, and the rafts were suddenly swallowed by this frightful maw of the ocean. And then by the men on the ten-foot dingy were words said that were still not words—something far beyond words.

The report caused a sensation and spurred the author to write a narrative version of the events. The short story first appeared in the June 1897 issue of Scribner's Magazine. A second and lesser story, "Flanagan and His Short Filibustering Adventure", based upon the same shipwreck but told from the point of view of the captain, was published in McClure's Magazine in October 1897. "The Open Boat" was published in the United States by Doubleday & McClure in April 1898 as part of the book The Open Boat and Other Tales of Adventure, which included additional works by Crane such as "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky", "Death and the Child", and "The Wise Men". The English volume, published simultaneously with the American one, was titled The Open Boat and Other Stories and published by William Heinemann. Both editions included the subtitle "A Tale Intended to Be after the Fact. Being the Experience of Four Men from the Sunk Steamer 'Commodore' ", and were dedicated "To the late William Higgins and to Captain Edward Murphy and Steward C. B. Montgomery of the Sunk Steamer Commodore".