John Corwell, Sailor and Miner; And, Poisonous Fish: 1901
John Corwell answered the call of unknown islands. A seasoned sailor who has had enough of the sea, he trades his ship for a miner's pick and heads into the Pacific, chasing rumors of gold on some uncharted shore. He finds it: a harbor rich enough to spark empire, veins of gold running through the island's core. The Governor of New South Wales backs his expedition, providing ship and crew for a return voyage. But Corwell learns what every colonizer discovers too late. The tropics breed treachery as surely as they breed profit. His crew turns. His trust shatters. And when the blood settles, Corwell and his wife Mary are left to face what their ambition has wrought. The narrative's second half pivots to another kind of danger. Becke catalogs the Pacific's lethal marine life with the precision of a naturalist and the drama of a man who's seen friends die from a single bite. Poisonous fish, hidden killers in crystal waters, a reminder that this paradise has teeth.
