Sunday, May 18, 2014

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The Journal of Frank Rudd Bybee (1897 - 1900)
Frank Rudd Bybee (circa 1950)
Grandson Jack Bybee (2012) -
Author: The Journal of Frank Rudd Bybee 1897 - 1900
In 1897, Frank Rudd Bybee ran away from a farm in Paradise, Iowa and an abusive, alcoholic, ironmonger father. At age 16, while exploring San Francisco in search of his brother, Frank was shanghaied on the Barbary Coast of California. He awoke in the brig of a brigantine bound for Cape Horn and London.
After encountering  a 'rogue wave' off the Argentine coast, during which Frank saved the life of the First Mate, a mutiny ensues and the captain is 'persuaded' to head for the nearest land.

'Nearest land' is Cape Town, South Africa where Frank is granted his Freedom. In short order, he meets Miss Mini (this writer's grandmother) Rudyard Kipling, (then resident near the University of Cape Town) Cape Colony Premier, Cecil-John Rhodes, and Col. Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement.
Frank befriends Baden-Powell, while helping to relieve the siege of Mafeking, during the Second Boer War, in the process, he contributes to the foundations of the Scouting movement.

In 1953, Frank Rudd Bybee, died near Worcester, Cape, South Africa. He died a sad, lonely and confused man, still suffering, I believe, from PTSD, caused by the rogue wave encountered in the South Atlantic.
While The Journal... is mainly fiction, it is heavily based on factual events, relative the life of Frank Rudd Bybee, as this writer has researched.

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