Buck Whaley: Ireland’s Greatest Adventurer

Description

Thomas ‘Buck’ Whaley was one of the greatest adventurers in Irish history. In 1788 he made an extraordinary 10-month journey from Dublin to Jerusalem for a wager of £15,000, equivalent to several million today. Nearly shipwrecked in the Sea of Crete, he almost died of plague in Constantinople, narrowly avoided a pirate attack, was waylaid by bandits, and met an infamous Ottoman governor known as ‘the Butcher’.

On his return, he became an overnight celebrity before suffering a catastrophic series of gambling losses that exiled him first to continental Europe (where he attempted to rescue Louis XVI from the guillotine) and then to the Isle of Man. When he died aged 34 in 1800 he had squandered an astronomical £400,000 (around €100 million) ‘without ever purchasing or acquiring contentment or one hour’s true happiness’.

In his lifetime, Ireland was about to erupt in rebellion; France was on the brink of bloody revolution; and the Ottoman Empire was creaking at the seams. Whaley lit up this volatile world like a fast-burning candle but retained his ability to recognise the absurdity of his own actions and the world around him. Buck Whaley tells the full story of his remarkable life and adventures for the first time.

Table of Contents

Prologue

PART 1: EARLY LIFE

1. Making a Buck
2. The Grand Tour
3. Wild Schemes
4. Jerusalem Syndrome

PART 2: THE JERUSALEM PILGRIM

5. Lightning and the Moon Rising
6. A Savage and Remote Country
7. Splendour and Power
8. Plague and Pirates
9. The Holy Land
10. Jerusalem
11. Flight
12. The Butcher
13. Return

PART 3: DEBT AND DEATH

14. Whirl and Blaze
15. The Bird is Flown
16. The Wildest Goose Chase
17. The Want of Money as Usual
18. Whaley’s Folly

Epilogue

About the Author

David Ryan was born in Galway and holds an MA degree in history from NUI Galway. His first book, Blasphemers and Blackguards: The Irish Hellfire Clubs, was published by Merrion Press in 2012. David currently works as a television producer and scriptwriter, specialising in history and archaeology documentaries.