We are informed about the writing of Dead Man’s Rock in Memories and Opinions, (1944, pp. 86 – 103, and in the preface of the Duchy edition of 1928. The novel was written for literary reasons and for financial ones following family misfortune.
The initial interpretation derived from visits to the Lizard peninsula, in South-west Cornwall, when Q was a student at Oxford. In 1867 he read an account of the wreck of ‘Jonkheer’ at Polurrien on 25th March 1867, following a probable mutiny, and the survival of a solitary Greek seaman who subsequently disappeared. Yet the actual plot did not formulate in his mind until the spring of 1886, on a farewell visit to Bodmin. Climbing the hill from Nanstallon, various disparate ideas coalesced. He penned the first pages of Dead Man’s Rock in the parlour of the ‘Half Moon’ at Petworth, where he was staying between the completion of his degree and a tutorship.
The manuscript was laid aside until the Easter vacation of 1887, where it was completed in the ‘Windy Parlour’ at Westdale Head. The manuscript was accepted for publication by Messers Cassell, Petter & Galpin of Ludgate Hill, London. The reviews and the sales justified the expectations of writer and publisher.
Dead Man’s Rock was Q’s first and foundational novel. It is important in itself as a ‘good read’. It is also important in what it shows us about him as a writer. Q did not regard it as amongst his best works of fiction. From a purely literary point of view, that may be right. However, it is essential reading for anyone interested in Q and is certainly one of his most exciting novels. The imaginative power of the writing, combined with its factual basis, enthralls the reader from the very first chapter. Q was a great writer about the sea and Dead Man’s Rock sets out his stall in no uncertain terms.