The Cradle of the Deep
1929
Joan Lowell had one of the most remarkable childhoods anyone could ever wish to have. From the ages of one to seventeen, Lowell lived aboard her father’s schooner, the Minnie A. Caine, sailing the high seas.
Her remarkable life included many adventures: she claimed she’d never had a female role model, and only learned about female anatomy by cutting up a shark; she once harpooned a whale; she frequently played—and lost—strip poker with the crew; witnessed grown men drowning overboard; and survived a shipwreck three miles off the coast of Australia by swimming to shore with—wait for it—three kittens clawing on to her back.
All her adventures were recorded in her autobiography, The Cradle of the Deep, published in 1929 by Simon and Schuster, and for which Lowell was paid $50,000. Film rights followed, as did numerous outstanding reviews for the book (adventure-autobiographies were all the rage at the time). But as often happens, naysayers soon crawled out of the woodwork—and doubts as to the truth of the tale were confirmed when the San Francisco Chronicle examined Lowell’s upbringing. It turned out that she’d really grown up in Berkeley, California, and had been out to sea for a handful of short trips.
Lowell always claimed that the book was eighty percent genuine, although she did admit to taking some artistic license with the tale. In a famous interview some years later, she admitted that if she hadn’t added a little spice to the story of her life, it would all have been a bit dull.
I'd say this gal managed to fool a whole lot of folks, for sure. I'm glad she made a little money out of the deal, and I hope she felt it was worth it.
Coffee out on the patio again this morning!
