Your Lot and Parcel
Survival Against All Odds in The Age of Sail
Jun 25, 2026
Benjamin Diaz/Eric Jay Dolin, Author, and American Maritime Historian
The American whaleship Mentor met disaster in 1832, wrecked on a remote reef in the western Pacific. Stranded and running out of supplies, the eleven surviving crew members endured the harsh realities of shipwreck in an unfamiliar world. Their ordeal deepened when, within days, they encountered the Indigenous people of Palau—who approached the desperate sailors wielding axes, clubs, and spears. In this gripping true story of cultural collision, tribal conflict, and shattered hopes, award-winning historian Eric Jay Dolin masterfully brings to life the Mentor’s ill-fated voyage. He chronicles the crew’s years of perilous captivity, the tense negotiations for their survival, and the dramatic naval rescue mission that determined their fate.
He is the author of "The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail."
https://www.ericjaydolin.com/
http://www.yourlotandparcel.org
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