Issue Details: First known date: 1836... 1836 A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands : Being the Adventures of James F. O'Connell. Edited from His Verbal Narration 'All of Which I Saw, and Part of Which I Was'
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Affiliation Notes

  • Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing

    James F. O'Connell (1808-1854) was an Irish sailor and entertainer. His travel narrative A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands traces his historically unverifiable travels in New South Wales and the Caroline Islands (especially Ponape) in the 1820s and 30s; the 1972 edition is an edited reprint of the 1836 original, includes a foreward by editor Saul H. Riesenberg, with a forward by series editor Maude. The foreword acknowledges the importance of accounts such as O'Connell's, while Riesenberg’s introduction provides an analysis of O'Connell's edited adventures. O’Connell paints a picture of a a picaresque journey around the Australian colonies and the Pacific, with his this "as told to" narrative used to promote his subsequent theatrical career as one of the first tattooed men in an American circus. However, in his introduction, Riesenberg casts doubt on many of the details that O'Connell confidently asserts, suggesting that he was probably an escaped convict attempting to obscure his past. The first few chapters detail O’Connell’s time in Australia, where he claimed to have met notable colonial personages ("King" Bungaree and John Oxley), and commented on both formal and informal aspects of the convict system, providing a very general description of the country, the Aboriginal populations, penal settlements, and colonial society. The next section narrates O'Connell's shipwreck on Ponape, detailing his tattooing, his marriage to the daughter of a chief, ethnographic descriptions of the Ponapean way of life, descriptions of the islands, and his eventual escape. He then details his further experiences, including detention in a Manilla prison, and his travels through Macao, Canton, Peking, and Constantinople to Halifax, and then New York. The Editor's preface to the first edition (1836) provided a sensational introduction, hinting that the book may be interesting but exaggerated: "when he was first introduced to us, the incredulity which is, sooner or later, the gift of connection with the world, induced us to be very suspicious; but continued and frequent conversations with him, in which, assisted by others, we repeated trivial questions, and invariably received the same answers, soon disarmed us of all suspicion" (p. 49).

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Boston, Massachusetts,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      B. B. Mussey ,
      1836 .
      Link: 21427268Full text document Sighted: 25/03/2021
      Extent: 266p.
      Note/s:
      • Ferguson 2163

      Holdings

      Held at: National Library of Australia
      Location: Petherick Reading Room
      Local Id: FRM F2163

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: DU21.O18 1836
    • Boston, Massachusetts,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      B. B. Mussey ,
      1941 .
      Extent: 266p.
      Edition info: 2nd ed.
      Note/s:
      • Ferguson 3268
Alternative title: The life and adventures of James F. O'Connell, the tattooed man, during a residence of eleven years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands
      New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      1845 .
      Extent: 29p.
      Edition info: Abridged edition
      Note/s:
      • Printed by W. Applegate
      • See reference in Ferguson 2163
      Providence, Rhode Island,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      1846 .
      Extent: 30p.
      Note/s:
      • Printed by J.F. Moore

Works about this Work

'Savage Printers' : Beachcombing, Tattoos and Liminality in James O'Connell's Residence Annie Werner , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Something Rich and Strange : Sea Changes, Beaches and the Littoral in the Antipodes 2009; (p. 86-97)
An overview of O'Connell's life and the way he relates his adventures in his narrative.
'Savage Printers' : Beachcombing, Tattoos and Liminality in James O'Connell's Residence Annie Werner , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Something Rich and Strange : Sea Changes, Beaches and the Littoral in the Antipodes 2009; (p. 86-97)
An overview of O'Connell's life and the way he relates his adventures in his narrative.
Last amended 19 Sep 2024 08:30:32
Subjects:
  • ca. 1810-1835
Settings:
  • c
    Australia,
    c
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