author
George Fracker
1795–1881
A sailor-turned-memoirist, this early American writer is remembered for a vivid firsthand account of survival after an 1817 shipwreck in the River Plate. His work blends sea adventure, travel writing, and the hard-earned perspective of someone who lived through the story himself.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Boston in 1795, George Fracker spent part of his early life at sea. He is best known for A Voyage to South America, with an Account of a Shipwreck in the River La Plata, in the Year 1817, a narrative based on the wreck that he reportedly survived as the sole survivor.
Sources connected with Johnson County, Iowa, say he later settled in Iowa City in 1856 and lived there for the rest of his life. Those same local-history accounts place his death in Iowa City in October 1880, although some later genealogy-style records give 1881 instead, so the exact year is not completely consistent in the material available.
Fracker’s writing stands out for its directness: it offers both an adventure at sea and a traveler’s look at South America in the early nineteenth century. For modern listeners, his book has the appeal of a true survival story told close to the events themselves.