Beachcomber James O’Connell begins a stay on Pohnpei, dated 1830–1833 in Lévesque’s collection.

What happened

James O’Connell is the earliest and best-known of Pohnpei’s beachcombers because of his book, A Residence of Eleven Years in New Holland and the Caroline Islands; Hezel says he appears to have been living on Pohnpei by 1830. His popular story of being tattooed and married into a Pohnpeian family is told in later editions, though a sympathetic museum essay calls its truth “an open question.” In 1833 an Irishman named O’Connell piloted the trading brig Spy into harbor.