Introduction

2 min

On February the First 1887, the Lady Vain was lost by collision with a derelict when about the latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W.

On February 1, 1887, the Lady Vain sank after colliding with an abandoned ship. It was near latitude 1° S. and longitude 107° W.

On January the Fifth, 1888—that is eleven months and four days after—my uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went aboard the Lady Vain at Callao, and who had been considered drowned, was picked up in latitude 5° 3′ S. and longitude 101° W. in a small open boat of which the name was illegible, but which is supposed to have belonged to the missing schooner Ipecacuanha. He gave such a strange account of himself that he was supposed demented. Subsequently he alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment of his escape from the Lady Vain. His case was discussed among psychologists at the time as a curious instance of the lapse of memory consequent upon physical and mental stress. The following narrative was found among his papers by the undersigned, his nephew and heir, but unaccompanied by any definite request for publication.

On January 5, 1888, eleven months and four days later, my uncle Edward Prendick was picked up at latitude 5° 3′ S. and longitude 101° W. He was a private gentleman who had certainly boarded the Lady Vain at Callao and had been presumed drowned. He was in a small open boat whose name was illegible. The boat was believed to have belonged to the missing schooner Ipecacuanha. He gave such a strange account of what had happened to him that he was thought insane. Later, he claimed to remember nothing from the moment he escaped from the Lady Vain. At the time, psychologists discussed his case as a curious example of memory loss caused by physical and mental stress. I, his nephew and heir, found the following account among his papers. He left no definite request for it to be published.

The only island known to exist in the region in which my uncle was picked up is Noble’s Isle, a small volcanic islet and uninhabited. It was visited in 1891 by H. M. S. Scorpion. A party of sailors then landed, but found nothing living thereon except certain curious white moths, some hogs and rabbits, and some rather peculiar rats. So that this narrative is without confirmation in its most essential particular. With that understood, there seems no harm in putting this strange story before the public in accordance, as I believe, with my uncle’s intentions. There is at least this much in its behalf: my uncle passed out of human knowledge about latitude 5° S. and longitude 105° E., and reappeared in the same part of the ocean after a space of eleven months. In some way he must have lived during the interval. And it seems that a schooner called the Ipecacuanha with a drunken captain, John Davies, did start from Africa with a puma and certain other animals aboard in January, 1887, that the vessel was well known at several ports in the South Pacific, and that it finally disappeared from those seas (with a considerable amount of copra aboard), sailing to its unknown fate from Bayna in December, 1887, a date that tallies entirely with my uncle’s story.

The only island known to exist in the region where my uncle was picked up is Noble’s Isle. It is a small, uninhabited volcanic island. H. M. S. Scorpion visited it in 1891, and a party of sailors landed there. They found nothing living there except some curious white moths, some hogs and rabbits, and some rather peculiar rats. So the most essential part of this account remains unconfirmed. With that understood, there seems no harm in making this strange story public, as I believe my uncle intended. There is at least this much evidence in its favor: my uncle disappeared from human knowledge near latitude 5° S. and longitude 105° E. He reappeared in the same part of the ocean eleven months later. Somehow, he must have lived during that time. It also appears that a schooner called the Ipecacuanha left Africa in January 1887. Its captain, John Davies, was a drunkard, and it carried a puma and several other animals. The vessel was well known at several South Pacific ports. It finally disappeared from those seas, carrying a considerable amount of copra. It sailed from Bayna in December 1887 to an unknown fate. That date agrees entirely with my uncle’s story.

CHARLES EDWARD PRENDICK.