Headhunters of the Coral Sea

Idriess, in his introduction, explains that his publisher wanted a boy's adventure book. He recalled the story of two boys “rescued from the savages” and decided a true adventure story was better, and produced what he refers to as an adventure book for boys of 9 to 90! It is fair to say that the writing has been kept simple, so that this book could be enjoyed by YA readers, although it is reasonably bloodthirsty!

In 1834 en route from Sydney to Singapore, the merchant barque Charles Eaton was wrecked in the Coral Sea during a storm. In freeing the first lifeboat, it was torn from the ship and some of the crew swam to it and tried to bring it back to load with people but the storm and sea would not allow it, and it was quickly swept far from the wreck. Eventually this boat would reach Timor Laut (Timor Leste), and the men were enslaved by the natives. A year later four of the five who survived were rescued by the Dutch and repatriated to Britain tell the tale of the Charles Eaton and set rescue plans in motion.

Back on the wreck a raft was hastily constructed and the survivors piled aboard -and overwhelmed the small construction. Many of the crew volunteered to remain on the wreck and build another raft, including a cabin boys, Jack Ireland and steward's boy John Sexton.

The second raft was duly constructed and the remaining survivors set off on their own attempt. Buoyancy was an issue, and their route was controlled by the current rather than any intervention the men could make. As the raft became less and less seaworthy, they neared an island and were approached by a canoe. The fearsome natives took them on their canoe, cautious of what they believed were returning spirits of the dead. The two boys were as surprised as anyone when the natives picked them out, looking at them closely and appearing to recognise them.

On shore they are provided with food, and the cautious natives watch over them, but in the dead of night they are attacked and massacred, the two boys escape only by their wits. They are injured, but steer clear of the orgy of murder until the bloodlust passes, when the natives recall that they can trade the two boys back to their tribes.

Alone now, the two boys are taken by canoe to another island, where they are reunited with two boys from the ship, who were travelling with their parents as passengers. They too were treated as if they were recognised, with all other survivors butchered. From here Jack and Will D'Oyly are taken in one canoe, and John Sexton and George D'Oyly were taken in another, never to see each other again.

After using a go-between, the boys are traded back to the tribe on Mer, the most bloodthirsty of the Torres Strait islanders, where again they are recognised as boys previously lost at sea in a storm. It is known amongst the natives that if you return from the dead you lose all memory of the time before, so you must relearn everything. Here the two boys become immersed in the culture, learn the customs, behaviours; learn to fight, to hunt, to fish and to dive.

The above is covered in the first few chapters, then the book explains the way of life, the journeys, the inter-relationships with the other tribes, then ultimately how the boys are ‘rescued' by the British ship Isabella. The book stops quite abruptly, only hinting at the discomfort the boys feel back in a European culture having been fully immersed in the Torres Strait Island culture.

This book was published in 1941. Eight years earlier in 1933, Idriess published Drums of Mer. This book is a fictionalised version of what Idriess refers to as real events - ie survivors of shipwrecks, usually children, being adopted into the tribes and treated as ‘returned spirits'. It seems Idriess already had part of the story of jack Ireland to hand and used this as inspiration for his story. In the introduction to Headhunters of the Coral Sea, Idriess mentions his source material. This consists of the stories passed into legend of the Torres Strait Islanders told to Idriess directly during his time of wandering in the Coral Sea, two accounts from those on the Isabella who had contact with Jack Ireland when he was ‘rescued', and one account written of all that was known about the wreck of the Charles Eaton.

East to read. 4 stars.