King Joe 1916-2023

 

Orientation

Sunset from the porch

In 1919, Marc English’s grandfather, Joe English, was rescued by Admiral Lord Jellicoe, HM Royal Navy after being marooned on the world’s largest coral atoll, due to the Spanish Flu pandemic.

For decades grandson Marc has been entrusted with the family artifacts: grandfather’s photos from 1916 – 1919; copies of his correspondence; details on the cultivation of coconuts (Joe managed the Central Pacific Coconut Plantation on the island, barely above the equator, halfway between Hawaii and Tahiti); and the plantation manager’s journal, outlining the contract laborer’s mutiny and attempted murder of Joe.

Now, the younger English – old enough to be grandfather himself – arrives to learn more about the island; the overlapping cultures of the Missionary Catholic and Protestant colonizers; and South Pacific, France, the British Empire, and the United States around which a now-multinational corporation (Unilever) are connected; the Great War; and a 29-year-old man from outside Boston who has found himself all but alone on a desert island – using a false name.

Journal Entries

Photo Galleries