y separately published work icon South Sea Supercargo selected work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1967... 1967 South Sea Supercargo
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A collection of stories, some of which feature Becke's alter ego, Tom Denison. Others are apparently based on his one-time employer in Apia, Mrs Mary Macfarlane, and the blackbirder 'Bully' Hayes, as well as other characters he encountered in his Pacific wanderings. The stories draw heavily on Becke's own experiences and certainly have autobiographical components but they are not, as Professor Day's introduction implies, autobiographical in the strictest sense of the word.

Notes

Contents

* Contents derived from the Brisbane, Queensland,:Jacaranda Press , 1967 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Introduction, A. Grove Day , single work biography (p. 1 - 11)
A Dead Loss, Louis Becke , single work short story
Tom Denison is sent to investigate a situation on an unnamed island in the Southwest Pacific where a trader is alleged to have shot an Islander. When Denison and the taciturn ship's captain arrive on the island they discover the trouble is over a girl the trader brought to the island. The captain buys the girl, intending to make a profit on her.
(p. 12 - 18)
The Obstinacy of Mrs Tatton, Louis Becke , single work short story
The Islander wife of a ship's captain refuses to let a male doctor attend to her after the birth of her baby.
(p. 19 - 25)
Mrs Maclaggan's Billy, Louis Becke , single work short story
Mayhem ensues when Denison and Hayes feed alcohol to Mrs Maclaggan's billy goat.
(p. 26 - 33)
'Reo, the Fisherman, Louis Becke , single work short story
An old Malay fisherman devises ingenious ways of making money.
(p. 34 - 38)
Billy Maclaggan and the Fiji Ram, Louis Becke , single work short story humour
A billygoat, being taken from Samoa to Fiji to fight with a hated businessman's much-feared ram, is trained to attack the businessman instead.
(p. 39 - 43)
Chester's 'Cross', Louis Becke , single work short story
A young woman seeks to be reunited with her former love, now a trader in the Caroline Islands, but he has reasons for refusing to reply to her letters. Their love seems doomed, until a cyclone intervenes.
(p. 44 - 60)
Leasse, Louis Becke , single work short story
Relates the idyllic seven months that Denison, the supercargo, lived in a village on the island of Kosrae, after the wreck of the blackbirder, 'Bully' Hayes's ship, the Leonora. The work appears to be largely autobiographical.
(p. 61 - 65)
The Shadows of the Dead, Louis Becke , single work short story
A group of sailors desert from a ship to live amongst the Islanders. However their drunken and violent ways alienate the villagers, who take their revenge when the Islander wife of one of the men dies after he strikes her in a drunken rage.
(p. 66 - 78)
Collier : 'The Blackbirder' : A Tale of the South Pacific Labour Trade, Louis Becke , single work short story
A ship's mate relates his experience when a group of Pacific Islanders, who are being taken to Tahiti to work on a sugar plantation, take over the ship.
(p. 79 - 86)
Denison Gets a Berth Ashore, Louis Becke , single work short story humour
A sailor is offered a job managing a run-down poultry farm, but discovers his dreams of an easy life are not well-founded.
(p. 87 - 91)
Denison's Second Berth Ashore, Louis Becke , single work short story
Denison tries his hand at editing, with predictably disastrous consequences.
(p. 92 - 98)
Denison Gets Another Ship, Louis Becke , single work short story
Denison travels to Sydney looking for work. Eventually he meets an old acquaintance and is offered a position as supercargo on a trading ship.
(p. 99 - 104)
A Question of Precedence, Louis Becke , single work short story
A socially inept ship's captain incites an all-out brawl in a Samoan village.
(p. 105 - 114)
A Point of Theology on Maduro, Louis Becke , single work short story
A local man returns to his island with his granddaughter after thirty years absence. He and his granddaughter have adopted the Catholic religion, but during his absence the islanders have become Protestants and, led by the Hawaiian missionary teacher, persecute him and his granddaughter, refusing them land and sustenance. When a trader, Macpherson, tries to help the old man his store is tabooed by the islanders and he appeals to the captain of a visiting ship for assistance.
(p. 115 - 123)
A Bar of Common Soap, Louis Becke , single work short story
Tom Denison, a trader, has discovered the secret of making a remarkable type of soap. His rival, a German trader, is driven mad with the desire to obtain the secret, with tragic results.
(p. 124 - 134)
The Strange White Woman of Maduro, Louis Becke , single work short story
An old trader tells the story of a young woman, dying from a gunshot wound to the head, who is abandoned on the island of Majuro by a passing ship.
(p. 135 - 141)
The Awful Duel at Utuan, Louis Becke , single work short story
A trader rescues two hundred survivors of the ill-fated French settlement in New Britain, established by the Marquis de Rays and known as Nouvelle France. He insists they live on board their steamer until he can send them to Sydney. When two of the Frenchmen become rivals in love a duel is arranged, with farcical results.
(p. 142 - 149)
Dr Ludwig Schwalbe, South Sea Savant, Louis Becke , single work short story
An injured sailor is put ashore on an isolated island to be tended by a German doctor. The doctor declares he has given up medicine to study the mating behaviour of green turtles. The sailor is terrified when he learns what the doctor is really doing.
(p. 150 - 162)
Saunderson and the Dynamite, Louis Becke , single work short story
Saunderson, a man who believes he knows everything, refuses advice from Denison about handling dynamite. The results are catastrophic.
(p. 163 - 166)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Alternative title: Suedsee : Geschichten aus Ozeanien
Language: German

Other Formats

  • Also published in braille and sound recording format(s).

Works about this Work

The Trader's Eye : Louis Becke's Oceania Bruce Bennett , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: Span , no. 48-49 1999; (p. 150-158)

— Appears in: Homing In : Essays on Australian Literature and Selfhood 2006; (p. 147-155)
The Aussie Who Turned into a Howling Cheese Thomas Keneally , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 2 March 1968; (p. 11)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story ; Louis Becke A. Grove Day , 1966 single work criticism biography
Untitled C. Tolchard , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 March 1968; (p. 19)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story
Untitled Maurice Dunlevy , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 4 May 1968; (p. 13)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story
Untitled Elizabeth Perkins , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 3 no. 3 1968; (p. 235-238)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story ; Louis Becke A. Grove Day , 1966 single work criticism biography
The Aussie Who Turned into a Howling Cheese Thomas Keneally , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 2 March 1968; (p. 11)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story ; Louis Becke A. Grove Day , 1966 single work criticism biography
Untitled Clement Semmler , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , February vol. 7 no. 4 1968; (p. 61)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story ; Louis Becke A. Grove Day , 1966 single work criticism biography
Untitled Elizabeth Perkins , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 3 no. 3 1968; (p. 235-238)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story ; Louis Becke A. Grove Day , 1966 single work criticism biography
Untitled Maurice Dunlevy , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 4 May 1968; (p. 13)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story
Untitled C. Tolchard , 1968 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 March 1968; (p. 19)

— Review of South Sea Supercargo Louis Becke , 1967 selected work short story
The Trader's Eye : Louis Becke's Oceania Bruce Bennett , 1999 single work criticism
— Appears in: Span , no. 48-49 1999; (p. 150-158)

— Appears in: Homing In : Essays on Australian Literature and Selfhood 2006; (p. 147-155)
Last amended 19 Sep 2011 09:53:52
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