Horace Holden

author

Horace Holden

b. 1810

A teenage sailor from New Hampshire turned a brutal shipwreck and years of captivity in the western Pacific into one of the era’s most gripping survival narratives. His memoir gives a rare first-person account of endurance, fear, and return against staggering odds.

1 Audiobook

A Narrative of the Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings of Horace Holden and Benj. H. Nute Who were cast away in the American ship Mentor, on the Pelew Islands, in the year 1832; and for two years afterwards were subjected to unheard of sufferings among the barbarous inhabitants of Lord North's island

A Narrative of the Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings of Horace Holden and Benj. H. Nute Who were cast away in the American ship Mentor, on the Pelew Islands, in the year 1832; and for two years afterwards were subjected to unheard of sufferings among the barbarous inhabitants of Lord North's island

by Horace Holden

About the author

Born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, on July 21, 1810, Horace Holden is best remembered for the 1836 memoir A Narrative of the Shipwreck, Captivity and Sufferings of Horace Holden and Benj. H. Nute. In it, he recounts how the American ship Mentor was wrecked in 1832 near the Pelew Islands, leading to a long period of captivity and hardship before he and Benjamin H. Nute made their way home.

Later sources connect Holden with the American Bible Society, where he served for many years as a member of its board and related committees. He eventually settled in Oregon, and records associated with his death place him there in March 1904.

What makes Holden memorable today is the directness of his writing. His book is not a polished literary performance so much as a vivid witness account, and that plainspoken style is exactly what gives the story its lasting power.