I've written elsewhere about "German Harry" who was immortalised by W. Somerset Maugham in his short story of the same name. I first heard about "German Harry" when I lived and worked on Thursday Island in 1977 and the story has stayed with me since. Then I received this email from a reader in Sweden:
"Hi, you have on your website a page written by Somerset Maugham about a man called German Harry. That man did exist and lived a life that was almost incredible.
He was born in Denmark in 1850 and died in Sydney in 1914. His real name was Jeppe Sören Christensen. Numerous people have told stories about him, Somerset Maugham, the Australian author Albert F. Ellis, captain C. A. W. Mockton and O. M. Sörensen, the latter a Dane who lived with him for 4 years and wrote a book about his life. It's this book that I have, published in 1941. It's in Swedish so I have to translate small parts for you.
He ran away from home when he was 13, learned German (that's why he was later nicknamed German Harry), came to England, got married, started a pub, sold the pub and went with his family to Cooktown in Australia, abandoned the family and settled in Samarai, New Guinea, made fortunes and lost them just as quickly.
He became an excellent skipper, often sailing alone around Australia and New Guinea. He saved sailors wrecked at Sydney's South Head with such skills that he was appointed Chief Pilot by the Board of Trade, presented by the mayor in Sydney.
Well, there is a whole book about German Harry, but this will do for now!
Kind Regards,
Patrick Lindahl,
Västra Frölunda, Sweden"
That was ten years ago. Patrick is now in retirement and has finally enough time to translate the book, all sixteen chapters of it. He's proceeding slowly, one chapter at a time, which I then polish off a bit around the edges. Here's our work in progress so far:
German Harry is one of the most adventurous figures in Danish sailing history. Ever since Jeppe Sören Christensen, to call him by his real name, ran away from home in Guldager Parish between Esbjerg and Varde in 1863 at the age of thirteen to go to sea, until he closed his eyes for the last time in Sydney in 1914, he experienced so many things as a sailor, smuggler and trader in the South Seas, that his wilde adventures and exploits made him famous all over the world.
German Harry's reputation attracted the attention of many writers. Somerset Maugham wrote of him in his short story in the "Cosmopolitans". The Australian writer Albert F. Ellis tells of him in his book "Adventuring in Coral Seas" and Captain C. A. W. Mockton, at one time Chief of Police at Samarai and in New Guinea, mentions him in "Some Experiences of a New Guinea Magistrate."
Of his own countrymen, I am probably the one who knew him best. For four years I lived with him, accompanied him on a long series of his adventurous journeys, and was with him in his last moments.
On the basis of his own and others' stories, his diaries and notes, I have tried here to give a sober and authoritative portrayal of this extraordinary Danish sailor, the last trader of the South Seas.
Copenhagen, April 1940.
O. M. Børup Sørensen."
To continue, click here - and come back occasionally to check up on the progress we're making.
