 | Jamrach's Menagerie | Jaffy meets Jamrach when Jamrach's escaped tiger picks him up in his mouth. From that meeting Jaffy goes to work for Jamrach and then goes on a sea voyage to find and capture alive mythical dragons. But after successfully catching a dragon their ship runs into trouble and sinks, leaving the surviving crew floating in two lifeboats. Eventually the rations run out and everyone gets very hungry indeed... | Excellent, really good story, great characters. Gets pretty lurid and unpleasant when they do the 'custom of the sea' bit. Historical fiction - Jamrach was a real menagerie owner and the tiger incident happened, and the shipwreck is based on the experiences of the whaling ship Essex. |
