DAMARSICOTTA

Chats with Champions will present author Andrew Vietze at 10 a.m. Nov. 20 in the Porter Meeting Hall of Skidompha Library.

Vietze will talk about his book “Boon Island: A True Story of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Cannibalism.”

The wreck of the Nottingham Galley on Boon Island — and the resultant rumors of insurance fraud, mutiny, treason and cannibalism — was one of the most sensational stories of the early 18th century.

Shortly after departing England with Captain John Deane at the helm; his brother, Jasper, and another investor aboard; and an inexperienced crew, the ship encountered French privateers on her way to Ireland, where she then lingered for weeks picking up cargo. They eventually headed into the North Atlantic and then found themselves shipwrecked on the notorious Boon Island, just off the New England coast.

Captain Deane offered one version of the events that led them to the barren rock off the coast of Maine; his crew proposed another.

Publishers Weekly called Boon Island “a maritime whodunit rife with twists and turns and high drama.”

The Portsmouth Herald dubbed it “superb. . . both a well-researched history and a page-turning mystery that begs to be a motion picture.”

The Wire called it “(a) story that offers mystery, adventure and heroism of an admirable but often unrewarded kind . . . and a plot twist worthy of a Dickens novel.”

Vietze is the former managing editor of Down East: The Magazine of Maine, and a critically acclaimed author of six books, including the recently released “The Biggest Fish Ever Caught.” Vietze’s previous book, “Becoming Teddy Roosevelt,” won an Independent Publishers Book Award, was a Book of the Year finalist and was formally honored by the Maine Legislature in 2010.

In addition to his books, Vietze has written for a wide array of publications, including: New York Times’ LifeWire, Weather.com’s “Forecast Earth,” Crawdaddy, Explore, Offshore, Time Out New York, Big Sky Journal,

AMC Outdoors, Hooked on the Outdoors, Maine Times, and American Songwriter.

A Registered Maine Guide, Vietze splits his time between an old farmhouse in Appleton and a cabin in the woods of Baxter State Park, where he works as a seasonal ranger.

Find out more at www.andrewvietze.com

Chats with Champions is a regular series. For more information, call 563-5513.

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