
Before the poetic versions of the "John Maynard" story
appeared in print, various prose versions were published. The early
versions, usually entitled "The Helmsman of Lake Erie," were published
in newspapers in 1845 and later with no attribution to any author. In
the 1860s, new versions of the story, with various titles and
attributed to John B. Gough, began appearing in newspapers, school
books, and collections of readings. Norman Barry, a retired Gymnasium
teacher from Bad Schussenried, Germany, has made a chart of all of the
versions he has found in print, and he has responded to speculations
about the authorship of the anonymous ones.The links below will take
you to Norman's chart, a comparison he made of three of the early
stories, many examples of these prose versions of the story, various
speculations, and more.
CHART
Norman Barry's chart of all the versions of the story that he has
found in print.
ANONYMOUS
Sensational Discovery:
"The Helmsman of Lake Erie" First Printed in Britain! -- by Norman
Barry.
"The Helmsman of
Lake Erie" as presented in The Church of England Magazine.
NEW! Norman Barry's "The Predicate
'Juvenile Readng' in The Church of England Magazine Beginning
in April, 1845."
Norman Barry's collation
of the Poughkeepsie Journal & Eagle and The Church of
England Magazine versions of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie."
Two Transatlantic
Passages: The Convoluted Path of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" to
Poughkeepsie, an essay by Norman Barry.
The Genesis of the
1845 "Helmsman of Lake Erie" in a Nutshell An essay by Norman Barry
that provides quick access to the creation of the 1845 sketch.
Norman Barry's comparison of
three newspaper versions of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie."
The Two Basic Textual
Variations of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" in Light of the Discovery of
the Poughkeepsie Journal & Eagle, the Maine Cultivator &
Gazette, and the Mohawk Courier, an essay by Norman
Barry.
Collation of
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE (London, England, June 7, 1845) and THE
CHURCH JOURNAL (1853 - 1872) (New York, N.Y, July 21, 1858) by Norman
Barry.
Der JOHN MAYNARD URTEXT aus dem Jahre 1845 ins
Deutsche übersetzt:
a) Deutsch ohne
Englisch
b) Deutsch und Englisch
(zum Vergleich)
Another comparison by Norman
Barry that includes two more newspaper versions of "The Helmsman of
Lake Erie."
The text of "The Helmsman of
Lake Erie" with NUMBERED LINES for quoting.
The earliest
printing of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" found so far (August, 2011).
It appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal and Eagle on July 19,
1845.
An early printing of "The
Helmsman of Lake Erie" that appeared in the Maine Cultivator and
Hallowell Weekly Gazette on July 26, 1845.
A printing of "The Helmsman
of Lake Erie" with an editorial comment about the lack of information
on its origin. Sun Weekly of New York City for the week ending
October 11, 1845.
Who Wrote "The
Helmsman of Lake Erie?" An Examination of Two Candidates: Charles
Dickens and James Fenimore Cooper, an essay by Norman Barry.
The front page of
the Baltimore Sun of August 30, 1845, containing a prose
version of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie."
The front page of the
The Wisconsin Argus of September 2, 1845, containing a prose
version of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie."
"The Helmsman of Lake Erie"
published in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser on September 12,
1845 (there's an obvious misprint in the newspaper header).
An account of the story of
John Maynard in the "Editors Drawer" of Harper's New
Monthly Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 52, September 1854, held at
Cornell University Library.
An account of the story of
John Maynard with an interesting preface from The Standard, of
Clarksville, Red River County, Texas, October 27, 1860, Vol. 17, No.
41.
An interesting partial account
of the story from the New London Democrat, of New London,
Connecticut, Saturday, February 12, 1848, Vol. III, No. 48, Whole No.
152, p. 1, c. 2.
"The Heroic
Pilot," a version of the John Maynard story published in "The
Children's Own Column," Knaresborough Post & Boroughbridge
Herald, 11 Sept. 1886, p. 5, c. 6.
An attempt to find out whether "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" is a
true story, from The Portage County Advocate, Wednesday,
September 13, 1854, Ravenna, Ohio, New Series: Vol. I, No. 24, p. 2,
c. 6. Transcription by Norman
Barry. An image of the actual
article.
An image of a page of the
Cleveland Daily Plain Dealer of September 10, 1845 (Vol. I, No.
134), showing the publication of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" by B. B.
French, followed by the anonymous prose version.
"THE HELMSMAN OF LAKE
ERIE" IN LIGHT OF THE ROLE PLAYED BY RELIGION IN THE FICTIONAL WRITING
OF JAMES FENIMORE COOPER -- OR, THE SECRET WHY THE GOOD MAN, WHEN
DYING, DOES NOT GROAN, an essay by NORMAN BARRY.
THE
POUGHKEEPSIE FACTOR: THE LINK TO JAMES FENIMORE COOPER? an essay by
Norman Barry.
Recently discovered (by Norman Barry) German
translations of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" published in Der
Liberale Beobachter (The Liberal Observer) in Reading,
Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1846 and in Der Lecha
Patriot in Allentown, Pennsylvania on November29, 1849. Below
you'll find links to a copy of the original Der Liberale
Beobachter article (see the first two columns) and a transcription
from Fraktur made by Norman Barry for ease of reading.
"Der
Steuermann auf dem Erie-See" as printed in Der Liberale
Beobachter in 1846.
"Der Steuermann auf dem
Erie-See" from Der Liberale Beobachter transcribed by Norman
Barry.
GOUGH
"Brave John Maynard!" by John
B. Gough in The British Workman, No. 107, November,
1863
"The Pilot" by John B.
Gough in The Royal Gallery of Poetry and Art: An Illustrated Book
of the Favorite Poetic Gems of the English Language, the Choicest
Productions of Authors, Living and Dead, for the Uncrowned Kings and
Queens of American Homes (New York : N. D. Thompson Publishing
Co., 1886), including images of the cover of the book, the dedication
page, and the title page.
"John Maynard!" by John
B. Gough in The Child's World Fifth Reader, by W. K. Tate,
Sarah Withers, and Hetty S. Browne (Richmond, VA: Johnson Publishing
Company, 1917)
"DER STEUERMANN, Ein
spannender Vorfall" by John B. Gough. This translation from one of the
original English versions appears in George Salomon's "Wer ist John
Maynard? Fontanes tapferer Steuermann und sein amerikanisches
Vorbild," Fontane Blätter, (Potsdam, Germany: Fontane Archives, 1965),
No. 2, pp. 25-40.
"A Hero," a report on an anecdote from a lecture by John Gough
in the Albany Evening Journal, September 28, 1860. A copy of the original
article. Norman Barry's
translation of the article into German, with interlinear
English.
Norman Barry's comparison
of three Gough texts from 1860, 1863 and 1886.
Norman Barry's comparison of
a typical 1845 anonymous "John Maynard" text with John Gough's 1860
version of the story.
Ein Vergleich - Die
zwei amerikanischen Vorlagen der Legende von John Maynard: Der anonyme
Urtext von 1845 und die stark gekürzte Fassung von J. B. Gough aus dem
Jahre 1860.
BURRITT
"The Helmsman of
Lake Erie" as told by Elihu Burritt.
Elihu Burritt and
"The Helmsman of Lake Erie" - A commentary by Norman Barry
A connection
between Elihu Burritt and Horatio Alger, noted by Norman Barry.
Norman Barry's
collation of Elihu Burritt's 1867 version of the story with the 1845
Church of England Magazine's version and the 1859 Gough
version.
BARTON
24 Years Afterwards: William H.
Barton's Rendering of "The Helmsman of Lake Erie" - Commented on by
Norman Barry
CHILDREN'S HOUR
A version of the
story told by a 13-year-old boy named Ivor Thomas and published in the
Children's Hour section of the Cardiff Times (Wales), Saturday,
February 21, 1891, p. 7, c. 7-8.
SAVARY
An interesting
version of the story in a 1901 sermon by Rev. George Savary, published
in The Hackney and Kingsland Gazette, England, Wednesday, Sept
18, 1901, pp. 3-4.
EINWAECHTER
An interesting version of
the story written by a German pastor in 1937, presented in German with
an English translation by Ziggy Rein.
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