The Spice Islands Voyage: In Search of Wallace

I have read many of Tim Severin's books - a genre I think of as nautical historical voyages. He is quite formulaic in these, where first he carries out research on a historical voyage; then builds a ship, usually with the help of craftsmen in the locale of the original; then after some sea trials sets off to replicate the historical voyage, unravelling some mysteries on the way. We learn about the hand-picked crew as we go, and pick up the background of the places visited and a comparison to ‘now'.

That has been the recipe for most of his books of this genre; but this one is a little different. This book is significantly more heavy in the biographical details of Alfred Russel Wallace. I would estimate up to half the text is the biography following Wallace's life, movement and activities in the islands which are now a part of Indonesia, and the remainder of his life back in England. This is not a bad thing - the biography is well written and succinct, and woven through Severin's own travels in these same places.

We still start off with a boat - in this case a 14 metre long prahu kalulis, built in the traditional Kalulis style on Palau Warbal - but in this case Severin engaged a boat builder to build it, rather than involve himself directly. He still visited periodically and explained the techniques and construction but not to the save level as previous books. There could be a number of reasons for this change - perhaps the boat builders wouldn't entertain having him there ‘helping' and there was no need to ‘rediscover forgotten techniques' as the boats were still being built the same way as Wallace's was in the 1850's. Perhaps time was a factor, or perhaps Severin was more caught up in the voyage than the boat.

Nevertheless, it didn't distract, as we were learning about Wallace - his early life and his time from 1854 to 1862 in the Malay Archipelago, which is, of course the title of Wallaces's own book on his travels there. Wallace is a fascinating character, who Severin describes well, and one cannot but feel somewhat sorry for Wallace who may well have solved Charles Darwin's problems with his ‘On the Origin of Species' with a timely letter from the islands to Darwin. Plenty to speculate about with the timing of this letter and Darwin's own realisation on the same topic, although Wallace was to defer to Darwin his whole life.

With the aid of Wallace's books, Severin steps through Wallace's time in the Maluku Islands (or Maluku Islands known at he time as the Spice Islands), his discoveries, some of his hypotheses, and how we spent his eight years. Wallace's journey was not linear enough to follow on Severin's journey, as Wallace was back and forwards various times to some islands. Severin simplified the route, taking in all places of importance, and wrapping Wallace's story around the various island visits. It was cleverly done, and the balance was good - assuming you are as interested enough in Wallace as you are in Severin and his experiences - which I clearly was.

Published in 1997, assuming the voyage took place the year before, Tim Severin was visiting places some 140 years after Wallace, and Severin did a good job of describing the many similarities, and differences. He is critical of places where pollution, environmental damage, and poor conservation management have occurred, but is not unreasonable in considering the reasons for this, or helplessness of many people or organisations in these situations (which was refreshing, as it could have just been a political bashing).

Severin's crew are a mixture of locals and other specialists, including a few old faces from previous books. They are an interesting bunch and add some colour and humour to the events of his several-month voyage. They are not at sea for long periods of time, so the journey certainly doesn't dominate the book, but the island destinations and interactions do.

They see an amazing array of birds, some breeds they see more than Wallace did in the same location. There is plenty of detail around the flora and fauna as is relevant to the story, which mixes in well with the other aspects of the book.

Recommended, but probably not as a first go as Severin's books in this genre.
4 stars.