Whales, Maidens and Gold by Suzanne Smythe

This is an historical account of a man's life when you made money by hard work and moved where the best opportunities appeared to be.  Henry was looking for adventure, new land and things to see and he found it all in his lifetime.  He was brave and started over more than once.

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd shared a copy of this book with me for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can get a copy now.

Henry worked on a whaling boat.  The way they harvested whales in those days is very scary.  They used a harpoon but sometimes the whale turned on the boat...

When they came over to the northern Pacific, Henry met a beautiful Hawaiian girl and was smitten.  But they had more whale hunting to do.  Soon he decided to run supplies to those who were isolated.  From there, the call of gold got into his blood.  He was lucky to survive long enough to get back home and marry and have a family of his own.

Much of the story was told by reprinting his diaries.  He was a very articulate man who wrote poems when the mood struck him.

This was a fascinating history and lets you know life wasn't easy then.  It's a very good historical read.