Flanagan: A Short Filibustering Adventure

Written by Stephen Crane

Narrated by Deaver Brown

Flanagan: His Short Filibustering Adventure

Flanagan is a story not dissimilar from The Open Boat except that the captain does in Flanagan but not in the Open Boat. Flanagan is hired to take a ship, aptly named the Foundling, down to Cuba to run guns and people into Cuba. He does so in a rickety old boat and does a good job. A gun boat finds them and barrels at them at top speed. Rather than just running, the natural instinct, Flanagan turns his ship towards the small gun boat, an unexpected chess move, and runs down the surprised small gun boat at sinks her. Afterward, his men make sure to gun down the survivors in their life boats to assure no followup.

After this great victory, Flanagan sees a storm whirling up in the distance. It comes upon him and is about to destroy his ship, after they try heading as far towards the Florida coast as possible. They can't make it so abandon ship. This is during a great party on shore, where people, upon hearing of the shipwreck come down as part of the party to gawk. It was a lovely scene on shore with the party goers.

"Later there floated to them a body with a calm Irish face (presumably Flanagan). The Expedition of the Foundling will never be historic" as the story ends in a dull thud, the classic irony of a Crane short story. Every bit as interesting as The Open Boat, a companion piece with a somewhat similar results.

As with all Simply audio books, we provide an commentary in an afterword for those interested.

Keywords: The Open Boat, Cuba, Flanagan, Florida, Foundling, Stephen Crane.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simply Magazine Inc.
• Release date: Jan 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781614960485

Stephen Crane

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American poet and author. Along with his literary work, Crane was a journalist, working as a war correspondent in both Cuba and Greece. Though he lived a short life, passing away due to illness at age twenty-eight, Crane’s literary work was both prolific and highly celebrated. Credited to creating one of the earliest examples of American Naturalism, Crane wrote many Realist works and decorated his prose and poetry with intricate and vivid detail.