Narrative of the Shipwreck of the Brig Betsey, of Wiscasset, Maine, and Murder of Five of Her Crew, by Pirates,on the Coast of Cuba, Dec. 1824.

In December 1824, the brig Betsey strikes an uncharted rock off the coast of Cuba. What follows is a desperate fight for survival that will claim five lives and leave only two men alive. Daniel Collins, a carpenter from Maine, survives the shipwreck only to face something far worse on shore: pirates hunting the survivors across the island. His account is not romantic adventure but raw, unflinching testimony. He describes the drownings, the machete attacks, the bodies left on the beach. He writes of starvation, hostile locals, and a lone escape through mangrove swamps toward whatever safety the island offers. But Collins doesn't end his story with survival. He ends it with a futile quest for justice, a demand that someone answer for the dead. This is maritime history told from the bottom of the food chain, from a man who watched friends die and lived to tell it. It is a document of brutality, endurance, and the strange dignity of bearing witness.