28: The Collapse of the Humanitarian Deal and Barnard's Abandonment Eric J. Dolan Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World Charles Barnard offered the British castaways a humanitarian deal: he would transport them to South Am
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John Batchelor
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🗓️ 26 October 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
Eric J. Dolan
Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World
Charles Barnard offered the British castaways a humanitarian deal: he would transport them to South America in exchange for salvage rights to the Isabella wreck. Although the British learned the War of 1812 had commenced, they accepted the terms. However, one of the British captains, Brooks, secured a rescue mission from Buenos Aires commanded by Lieutenant William Peter Danda aboard the HMS Nancy. Danda was driven by the prospect of personal financial gain offered by the prize system and disregarded the Americans' humanitarian assistance to British citizens. Danda seized the Nanina as a prize of war, imprisoned most of the American crew, and deliberately marooned Barnard and a hunting party who were ashore gathering food for the castaways.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Batch from visiting with Eric J. Dolan. His new book is |
| 0:10.1 | Left for Dead, Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. We're in the Falklands. |
| 0:15.2 | It's 1812, 1813. There's a shipwreck coming from Australia, and women and children and men are scattered on |
| 0:24.2 | the shore of a bleak part of the Falklands. Fortunately for them, there's a ceiling, experienced sealing crew |
| 0:31.4 | led by Charles Barnard, and they are about to see the burning grass, which suggests to them somebody's there. |
| 0:39.3 | And here they come across the shipwreck, and the shipwreck people believe they're rescued. |
| 0:43.6 | Except, well, they are rescued in a way, Eric, except for it's going to be a long way around rescue. |
| 0:49.9 | Who knows there's a war on, and who doesn't? |
| 0:53.4 | Yeah, when Charles Bernard and his other sealers come upon the erect ship and the castaways, |
| 1:01.1 | they are aware that war is broken out because a few months earlier, an American sealing ship |
| 1:06.5 | came by and told them that the war had broken out. |
| 1:09.5 | The people on board the Isabella, however, |
| 1:11.6 | were not aware that word broken out. So Charles Bernard and his men offer the castaways a great deal, |
| 1:17.7 | a humanitarian deal. They say, we're going to save you. We're going to take you back to South |
| 1:21.9 | American port so you can go back to London. And all that we ask in return is the right to salvage |
| 1:27.4 | the wrecked Isabella |
| 1:29.0 | and the cargo on board minus personal possessions. The British agree to this, but then Barnard |
| 1:34.7 | realizes they don't know the war is broken out, and he knows that they can overpower the Americans |
| 1:39.2 | at any moment. So he feels that it's incumbent upon him to let them know that the war has commenced. |
| 1:44.7 | He does. They take another vote. And the British, all except for one or two, say, no, no, it's fine. We understand there's a war broken out. We're enemies technically. But you're doing the right thing. You're saving us. You're giving us a lifeline. We accept it. Thank you very much. Importantly, Brooks, the captain of |
| 2:02.4 | responsibility, had set a long chance to reach the mainland in an open boat. Nobody expects him |
| 2:11.2 | to be successful in those seas. It's wintertime coming on. So Brooks has reached Montevideo and then he's steered to Buenos Aires. |
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