This anthology includes the story of the original painting of the "Sole Survivor" and where it was discovered 90 years later. McShane watched as the "Marguerite" went down stern first in turbulent waves with all hands aboard. He was shanghaied on the Bering Sea whaler "Northern Light" in 1901, recounted through his short stories and poems. He heard the call of the Yukon to search for gold and later choked on the ochre dust of an Arizona cattle ranch starved for water; more precious than gold. Relive the frenzy of the penny mining stocks of the 1920's or '30's and the chalk board that trumpets those impassionate, impersonal announcements of the failure of yet another bonanza mine. Would they all fail or reward his tinselled certificates with a fortune? Is life worth living without a Hupmobile? In an era when change exploded in this country from old western to the industrial age, survival required vigor and adaptation. Life then, as now, wasn't easy.
About the Author: Patrick John (Stanley McShane) Rose was born in 1872 on board his father's ship, the Marguerite, or perhaps in a maternity home in Brooklyn, New York (depending on the story), while his father's ship was discharging cargo from exotic lands. At one point he landed on the streets of San Francisco where he'd heard the streets were paved with gold. During the 30 years he sailed, he participated in the search for pirate treasure and was shanghaied out of San Francisco on a whaler. When Patrick hung up his jib sails forever, the siren call to the rapidly dissipating Wild West beckoned where he searched for gold and later learned to be a cowpoke. But the dust of an Arizona cattle ranch failed to hold this wanderer's interest and he began to procure numerous gold and mining certificates from the Comstock, the Mother Lode of the rapidly exploding mining industry and penny stocks. It was an amazing and exciting time in the early 20th Century. Patrick John Rose survived--the sinking of his ship--the frigid winter of whale hunting in the Bering Sea--the choking Arizona dust and searing sun. Perhaps in the end, it will be you who decides whether or not he survived his greatest adventure--that of Stanley McShane, the author--and his last courageous pursuit!