Bringing you the alternative news in Orkney

by Fiona Grahame

By the time the boat washed ashore on the small island of Maana’oba in the Solomon Islands, the men were like skeletons

"IT IS NOT THE strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works co-operatively against common threats.” ~ Charles Darwin

The extraordinary life of Orcadian Jack Renton.

When Jack Renton was ‘rescued’ by the Royal Naval schooner ‘Bobtail Nag’ in 1875 a survival tale unfolded which to this day amazes those who hear of it. This is his story.

Jack was born in 1848 in Stromness. His father was a successful tailor. The family prospered and Jack was soon joined by many siblings. Stromness was a very busy port with fishing fleets, trading vessels, Hudson Bay company recruiters and whalers calling in.

At the age of 16 Jack left for Liverpool where he enlisted as a seafarer. He was physically very able having roamed about Stromness, climbing up masts of ships and swimming in the cold waters of Hamnavoe.

It was when he was in San Francisco, in 1868 having arrived there from Hong Kong, ready to sign on to another ship, that he was drugged, captured and forced to work on the Renard. Conditions were dreadful as the Renard, a trader in guano, was not very seaworthy and several of the other seamen had also been shanghaied. Jack and three others escaped one night in one of the Renard’s small boats. It had been well planned and the men had stocked up with supplies, especially water.