The Petrel Affair

By Joan Druett

There was something very wrong on the fatal voyage of the American whaleship Petrel. Vile things had happened on board, things that would have been carefully kept under wraps, except for the curiosity of Alexander McGilp, the constable in charge of law and order in the Bay of Islands. After he listened to the ghoulish tales told by four men who had run away from the ship, instead of returning the deserters to the dubious attentions of the officers and captain, he wrote their evidence down, and passed it on to both officialdom and journalists.

And so the ghastly story was printed in New Zealand newspapers, leading to the most sensational trial of the nineteenth century. Had the captain and officers really committed those terrible crimes? A man had died - had they murdered him? Or were the grim events caused by something else - something lurking in the bowels of the unfortunate ship? Fascinating twists and turns abound as Joan Druett takes us through startling police reports and lurid newspaper accounts to a courtroom where two opposing lawyers argue a convoluted case, toward a most unexpected conclusion. It took two months to pin down the highly unexpected solution to the mystery - two months of sensational headlines but then the full story could be told.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0995130981
• ISBN13: 9780995130982
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Old Salt Press
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"