The Cruise of the Snark

The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London

The log of the Snark states: ... still bore the tomahawk marks where the Malaitans at Langa Langa several months before broke in for the trove of rifles and ammunition locked therein, after bloodily slaughtering Jansen's predecessor, Captain Mackenzie. The burning of the vessel was somehow prevented by the black crew, but this was so unprecedented that the owner feared some complicity between them and the attacking party. However, it could not be proved, and we sailed with the majority of this same crew. The present skipper smilingly warned us that the same tribe still required two more heads from the Minota, to square up for deaths on the Ysabel plantation. (p. 387) One of London's crew members was young Martin Johnson from Kansas. Following the cruise of the Snark, Martin became an adventurer and world traveler, making some of the earliest motion pictures of unexplored or less-explored areas and peoples of the earth. The anchor, banister ropes, and oars from Snark were incorporated into the Los Feliz estate of conductor John A. Van Pelt built in the 1930s. The anchor from Snark was made into a chandelier and the oars were used as balcony beams