The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812--a tale of treachery, shipwreck, isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival. Fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, the incident left three British sailors and two Americans, including the captain of the sealer, Charles H. Barnard, abandoned in the barren, windswept, and inhospitable Falklands for a year and a half. With deft narrative skill and unequaled knowledge of the very pith of the seafaring life, Dolin describes in vivid and harrowing detail the increasingly desperate existence of the castaways during their eighteen-month ordeal--an all-too-common fate in the Great Age of Sail. A best-selling and award-winning maritime historian presents this true story of five castaways--three British sailors and two Americans--abandoned on the Falkland Islands for a year during the War of 1812, showing individuals in wartime under great duress acting both nobly and atrociously as they struggle to survive.

Map on endpapers.

Introduction -- A-sealing we shall go -- The crew -- War intervenes -- Voyage to the Falklands -- The windswept isles -- The killing begins -- Ripples of war -- The Isabella -- On the edge of disaster -- Grief -- Forlorn -- Searching for salvation -- Getting help -- Discovery -- Deal -- Rough passage -- Preparations -- D'Aranda's surprise -- Treachery -- Justification -- Desperate journeys -- The Nancy returns -- Necessity -- Protest -- Let the court decide -- Routine, then deceit -- Alone -- Reconciliation -- Explanation -- Reprieve, relapse, and return to Eagle Island -- Forgiveness -- To Sea Dog Island and back -- Building, hunting, and skinning -- Return to Hook Camp -- Near disaster -- A long wait -- "Two ships, two ships!" -- Deliverance -- Prize -- Long, strange trip home -- Epilogue.