AT THE POINT OF A CUTLASS: THE PIRATE CAPTURE, BOLD ESCAPE, AND LONELY EXILE OF PHILIP ASHTON
Book ID/图书代码： 02173014B71967
English Summary/英文概要： Based on a rare manuscript from 1725, At the Point of a Cutlass uncovers the amazing voyage of Philip Ashton -- a nineteen-year old fisherman who was captured by pirates, escaped on an uninhabited Caribbean island, and then miraculously arrived back home three years later to tell his incredible story.
Taken in a surprise attack near Nova Scotia in June 1722, Ashton was forced to sail across the Atlantic and back with a crew under the command of Edward Low, a man so vicious he tortured victims by slicing off an ear or nose and roasting them over a fire. "A greater monster," one colonial official wrote, "never infested the seas." Ashton barely survived the nine months he sailed with Low’s crew -- he was nearly shot in the head at gunpoint, came close to drowning when a ship sank near the coast of Brazil, and was almost hanged for secretly plotting a revolt against the pirates.
Like many forced men, Ashton thought constantly about escaping. In March of 1723, he saw his chance when Low’s crew anchored at the secluded island of Roatan, at the western edge of the Caribbean. Ashton fled into the thick, overgrown woods and, for more than a year, had to claw out a living on the remote strip of land, completely alone and with practically nothing to sustain him. The opportunity to escape came so unexpectedly that Ashton ran off without a gun, a knife, or even a pair of shoes on his feet. Yet the resilient young castaway -- who has been called America’s real-life Robinson Crusoe -- was able to find food, build a crude shelter, and even survive a debilitating fever brought on by the cool winter rains before he was rescued by a band of men sailing near the island. Based on Ashton’s own first-hand account, as well trial records, logbooks, and a wealth of other archival evidence, At the Point of a Cutlass pieces together the unforgettable story of a man thrust into the violent world of a pirate ship and his daring survival and escape.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 《弯刀之尖》基于1725年的一份罕见手稿而创作，揭开了19岁渔民菲利普•阿什顿从被海盗绑架，逃离到加勒比海上的一个无人岛，到最终在3年后奇迹生还故里，从而得以讲述其传奇之旅的故事。
1722年六月，在新斯科舍省附近遭遇了一次意外袭击后，阿什顿被迫出海穿越大西洋，在回程时遇上了一群听命于爱德华•洛的海盗。爱德华•洛是一名万分邪恶之人，他以折磨自己的囚徒为乐，将其耳朵与鼻子切下后置于火上烧烤。一名殖民官曾记载他为“更为可怕的恶魔，从未停止侵袭海洋。”在阿什顿与洛的船员共同航行的9个月中，他险险没能活下去-- 一度险些头部中弹，也曾在巴西海岸附近的一艘沉船中险些溺水身亡，更不用提曾因为密谋反抗海盗们而被活活吊死。
正如许多军人们一样，阿什顿不停地思考着自己的逃亡计划。在1723年三月，当洛的船员们将船停靠在加勒比海西边一座名为罗阿坦岛的隐秘小岛上时，阿什顿看到了自己逃离的机会。他逃离到了浓密而隐蔽的灌木丛中，有长达一年多的时间，不得不在遥远的土地上艰难谋生，完全孤独一人，几乎没有任何能够补给支撑。因为逃跑的机会来的太过突然，阿什顿没能带上一把枪，一把刀，甚至连一双鞋都没穿。然而这名坚定不移的年轻逃亡者--被称作美国真人版鲁滨逊--不仅找到了食物，给自己搭了简单的遮风避雨的棚屋，甚至在一次因为淋了寒冷冬雨而引发的致命高烧中幸存了下来，最终获得了一群航行到附近的人们的救援。《弯刀之尖》基于阿什顿本人的第一手叙述创作，同时结合了审讯记录、船员日志以及大量丰富的其他档案文献资料，拼凑出一个男人被卷入海盗船上的暴力世界中，勇敢逃亡并幸存下来的难忘故事。（DC）
Awards/获奖情况：“传递了嗜血海盗的故事，结合了大量公海上的活动和惊险故事……在这个有关于阿什顿的故事中，弗莱明让这一切都显得更为丰富丰满。”--《波士顿环球报》
“弗莱明所讲述的这一菲利普•阿什顿的精彩史诗之旅简直超凡绝伦。”--乔治•C•道根，作者，著有1812: The Navy’s War（《1812:海军之战》）, 以及The Shining Sea: David Porter and the Epic Voyage of the U.S.S. Essex During the War of 1812（《闪耀海洋》）。
“弗莱明对真实海盗的戏剧化历史性描写，完胜任何一个好莱坞版本！” --- 马科斯•瑞代克，作者，著有Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age（《公国恶棍：黄金时期的大西洋海盗》）, 以及The Slave Ship: A Human History（《奴隶船：一部人类史》）。
"Delivers blood-thirsty pirates and plenty of action and excitement on the high seas. . . .In Ashton’s story, Flemming struck it rich." --Boston Globe
"Flemming’s account of Philip Ashton’s fascinating odyssey is superb."-- George C. Daughan, author of 1812: The Navy’s War, and The Shining Sea: David Porter and the Epic Voyage of the U.S.S. Essex During the War of 1812.
"Flemming’s dramatic history of real pirates is vastly better than the Hollywood version!"
-- Markus Rediker, author of Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age, and The Slave Ship: A Human History.
About the Author/作者介绍： 格里高利•N•弗莱明花费三年时间进行《弯刀之间》的素材调研，首次讲述了马布尔黑德渔民菲利普•阿什顿与劫掠了他的可怕海盗之尖的完整故事。
在调研与写作《弯刀之尖》一书的过程中，格里高利亲自去探索了阿什顿所经历的伟大征程中的许多关键地点，从遥远的新斯科舍省附近的港口--阿什顿被枪劫走的地方，到位于加勒比海的罗阿坦岛，阿什顿获得逃离的小岛，却距离洪都拉斯海岸线长达四十英里。罗阿坦岛上大部分的山林地貌都保留了下来，至今还在，无人居住并且覆盖着浓密的森林---小岛上的东部部分就是当年阿什顿被困并且生活的地方，时至今日也只能通过小船到达。
本书不局限于依赖阿什顿自己提供的第一手叙述资料，同时还参考了大量其他资料，其中包括数百篇殖民地报道，审讯记录，手写航海日志以及在洪都拉斯湾附近巡逻并和爱德华•洛的海盗们交战的英国战舰保留的相关书信材料。
格里高利曾是一名通讯记者，他拥有威斯康辛大学麦迪逊分校的博士学位。作为新英格兰人，他还毕业于新罕布什尔大学。作者现与其家人居住在新英格兰。更多信息请访问gregflemming.com.
Gregory N. Flemming spent more than three years researching At the Point of a Cutlass, which tells for the first time the complete story of Marblehead fisherman Philip Ashton and the horrific pirates who captured him.
When researching and writing At the Point of a Cutlass, Greg explored many of the key locations in Ashton’s odyssey, from the remote Nova Scotia harbor where Ashton was captured at gunpoint to the Caribbean island of Roatan, forty miles off the coast of Honduras, where Ashton escaped. Much of Roatan’s hilly terrain remains, even today, unpopulated and heavily forested -- the eastern part of the island, where Ashton was marooned and lived, is still accessible only by boat.
The book draws not only on Ashton’s own first-person account of his experiences, but also a wealth of other materials, including hundreds of colonial newspaper reports, trial records, and the hand-written logbooks and correspondence from the British warships that patrolled the Bay of Honduras and fought with Edward Low’s pirate crew.
Greg is a former journalist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A New England native, he is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He lives with his family in New England. Read more at gregflemming.com.
Format:HARDCOVER
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
原文第一章内容：暂无
手稿：暂无
大纲：暂无