Black Michael - Black Peter

When reading Tarzan Alive many years back, I must say that I was fascinated by the article What Happened To Black Michael? which is printed in Addendum Four. This informative piece is based on an original idea by Dale L. Walker, developed by John Harwood, with additional notes by Phillip Jose Farmer.

Jean-Paul Goude

The article as a whole examines the possibility that maybe Black Peter Carey of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes classic The Adventure Of Black Peter, and Black Michael of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan Of The Apes is the same person. Intrigued by the author's revelations I decided to launch my own investigation.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

In the composition's second section, A Tentative Career of Black Peter - Black Michael, John Harwood combines the lives of Black Peter and Black Michael as if they are one. The article is a well-researched project, but it often adds Harwood's own personal theories.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Harwood opens his portion of the publication by stating, that Peter Carey was born in 1845. This is true according to the information provided by the young investigator, Stanley Hopkins. There are no statements, however, that state Doyle's Black Peter or Burroughs' Black Michael ran away to sea at the age of ten in 1855 or 1856 as suggested.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

There are also no direct facts in Doyle's work to indicate Black Peter became a cabin boy aboard the Sea Unicorn and worked his way up to Captain by 1882. I do see grounds for Harwood's self-developed theory. Harwood points out that on page 666 of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, the great detective states, "So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship." Stanley Hopkins, the thirty-three-year-old investigator, also informs us that Black Peter was in command of the Sea Unicorn by 1883.

The Adventure of Black Peter

Harwood does leave a back door open by saying, "Would this indicate that he had worked his way up from cabin boy to Captain of the same ship on which he had started? Or would it mean that it might be difficult to trace the career of a man through the lower jobs such as cabin boy and common sailor and that Holmes only looked up the records of his employment as mate and Captain? The officers may have been on record at some central shipping agency, but the crew members might only be available in the logs of individual ships."

The Adventure Of Black Peter

After reading Harwood's theory, Farmer agrees that Black Peter spent his entire career on board the Sea Unicorn. Phil Farmer feels that Holmes should have been able to locate Black Peter's complete career records in the shipowner's files, but admitted it was possible for them to have been destroyed in some manner. Farmer also agrees with Harwood that after retirement Black Peter signed on as a common seaman on several South Atlantic ships.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Harwood does stick to the facts when he states that Peter Carey became known as Black Peter for his temper as well as for his black beard. Farmer mentions that Burroughs', Black Michael, seems more humane than Doyle's, Black Peter. He admits, however, that it is when drinking that Black Peter becomes so villainous, and his soberness aboard the Fuwalda is the difference in the personalities.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Facts are again stuck too when Harwood tells us that in August 1883 the Sea Unicorn picked up Neligan, a west country banker, from his disabled yacht. Neligan had been on his way to Norway to sell some securities to prevent a failure of his bank. Black Peter found out about the securities and pitched Neligan overboard to get them. Patrick Cairns, an extra harpooner, witnessed the murder but said nothing about it to anybody at the time.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

According to investigator Hopkin's provided information, it is true that Black Peter retired in 1884. Returning to his own theorizing Harwood tells us Black Peter lives off the stolen securities and somehow discovers that Patrick Cairns saw him throw Neligan overboard. From this same source, Black Peter also learns that Cairns is planning to blackmail him. Attempting to shake Cairns off his trail Black Peter signed on as a common sailor on a southbound ship He did this knowing Cairns would look for him in the northern whaling-sealing fleets.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

This portion of Harwood's theory is based on two factual statements. Investigator Hopkins does inform us that Black Peter, after retirement, travels for some years before buying property and settling down in 1889. Also, Patrick Cairns in his admission of guilt tells us, "Shortly after Peter Carey gave up the sea, and it was long years before I could find where he was." From 1884 to 1895 would be a span of eleven years.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Harwood then implies Black Peter dropped his first name, Peter, and began using his middle name, Michael. This speculation of course is very possible, for Black Peter's second name is not disclosed in Doyle's account, nor is Black Michael's in Burroughs' tale.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Harwood theorizes that Black Peter, now called Black Michael, may have journeyed about for a while in the South Atlantic, sailing on several vessels, before he shipped aboard the Fuwalda in 1888.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

After the mutiny and the marooning of the Greystoke's, Black Michael and company set sail for the nearest civilized port. They abandoned the Fuwalda in smaller boats and let her drift under full sail. The crew split up in port and Black Michael returned to England in 1889. He dropped his middle name and took up his first name, Peter, again.

Joe Kubert

Instead of the Fuwalda wrecking at sea, the barkentine drifted into the South Equatorial Current. The current carried the Fuwalda out into the Atlantic, down the east coast of South America, east into the Atlantic again, and then to its wrecking on the shores of St. Helena. Thus, when the British searchers discovered the wreckage, they believed all had perished with the wreck.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Phil Farmer feels Harwood's theory about the Fuwalda drifting across the Atlantic and back again requires too much time. Only two months after the Fuwalda left Freetown, then Sierra Leone, it was being looked for by a half dozen British warships. The Fuwalda's wreckage was found almost immediately off the shores of St. Helena.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

 

Farmer believes the Fuwalda could not have drifted on the course Harwood describes in the month-and-a-half after the Greystoke's were marooned. He claims the time element would be even shorter since the Fuwalda would have to be sailed to the nearest large civilized port first, which in itself would take about a month.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Farmer theorizes the Fuwalda set out due south after beaching the Greystoke's. While sailing by St. Helena, Black Peter/Michael deliberately chopped off some parts of the Fuwalda and cast them into the sea. This would be mistaken for wreckage, thus throwing the British off his trail.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

At the end of this article, I have formed a chronology of Black Peter - Black Michael based on John Harwood and Phillip Jose Farmer's theories. As you can see by that presented chronology it is very acceptable that Doyle's Black Peter and Burroughs' Black Michael are indeed the same person.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Although Dale Walker, John Harwood, and Phil Farmer have shown us that there is a remarkably good chance that Black Peter and Black Michael are the same people, there is still one expert who is not completely convinced. That person is Professor H.W. Starr. Starr is a member, and one-time Head-mastiff of the Sons of the Copper Beeches, a Philadelphia-based scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars. Like John Harwood and Phil Farmer, Starr is also a contributor to the Burroughs Bulletin.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Starr does not think that Black Peter, at the age of thirty-nine to forty-four, would take up the hard life of a common sailor again. In all fairness, it should also be pointed out that although Stanley Hopkins, the police inspector, informs us that Black Peter did travel for some years after retiring, he does not say where or by what mode of transportation.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Another detail thus far unmentioned that would seem to add credibility to Starr's accusation is the description Burroughs gives of Black Michael. "The other seaman, however, was neither old nor small - a huge bear of a man, with fierce black mustachios, and a great bull neck set between massive shoulders." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes, chapter 1. In my personal visualization, this hardly sounds like a forty-three-year-old man, although it is not impossible. Burroughs' description of Black Michael is more of a mature man in his prime.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

John Harwood even finds a weak link in his own theory. "Why did Black Peter Michael grow a beard again when he settled down in England? If Cairns was still looking for him after all these years, he probably would have been searching for him in England as well as in Scotland. Besides asking for him by name, he would have given a description, and this would have included the huge black beard."

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Phil Farmer tries to cover this weak link by simply stating that Black Peter wanted to regrow the beard and that he felt safe in Forest Row, Sussex, England. Personally, I hardly find that to be an adequate defense. Farmer also makes one more unacceptable statement. When describing one of the reasons Black Peter decides to go south he remarks. "Moreover, he hated the Arctic cold." I don't see how Farmer reaches this conclusion when Black Peter has sailed on a northern sealer-whaler, according to Harwood, since the age of ten. From then until retirement would be twenty-nine years. If Black Peter hated the cold that much I hardly think he would have spent twenty-nine years aboard the Sea Unicorn.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

There is an explanation, however, that would rid the Black Peter - Black Michael theory of Starr's, Harwood's, and my mentioned weakness. Let's just be open-minded for a second and surmise for the moment that the Fuwalda set sail in May 1872, instead of 1888, as many Greystoke chronologists believe.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Instead of being forty-three years old in the Harwood and Farmer theory, Black Peter/Michael would be twenty-seven years old. This would fit Burroughs' description of Black Michael more closely and would allow him to return home in ample time, get married, and have a daughter by 1875 as Doyle describes. It would erase Starr's aging sailor complaint, plus Harwood's beard description.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

My vision is like Harwood's and Farmer's, which also goes against the statement made by Sherlock Holmes. "So far as I could learn he had sailed in no other ship." In defense I must again quote the very words of John Harwood, "would this indicate that he had worked his way up from cabin boy to Captain of the same ship on which he had started? Or, would it mean that it might be difficult to trace the career of a man through the lower jobs such as cabin boy and common sailor? There is a possibility that Holmes only looked up the records of his employment as mate and Captain? The officers may have been on record at some central shipping agency, but the crew members might only be available in the logs of individual ships."

The Adventure Of Black Peter

Another reason that could have fouled up Holmes's attempt to locate Black Peter/Michael as a common sailor is also made by Harwood. "Though he would have had to present papers as a deckhand, he could get forged documents easily." I would like to add that if Holmes were checking records in 1895, chances were much more significant that Black Peter might have been traced back seven years to 1888. But the chances would be drastically reduced if Holmes had to go back twenty-three years to 1872.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

It is also quite possible that Carey, in his earlier years, went by his middle name, Michael, instead of his first name, Peter. A few people do this, for I am a good example. It is not likely Michael was Carey's first name, for Holmes would surely have noticed this in Black Peter's records and brought it to light. Thus, the opening years of Carey's sailor life may have been spent as Black Michael. After the mutiny of the Fuwalda, he could have changed to his first name, Peter, and abandoned the mustache for a full beard.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

As you can see the Black Peter - Black Michael, 1872 chronology, passes every factual test that the 1888 chronology does. The 1872 chronology, however, rids us of all the weaknesses mentioned by Starr, Harwood, and myself. No matter which of the presented chronologies fits your personal liking, there is one thing that can be concluded. Black Peter and Black Michael could very well be the same person.

The Adventure Of Black Peter

A Black Peter - Black Michael Chronology

Based On The 1888 Chronology Theories Of John Harwood And Phillip Jose Farmer

Date:  1845  

Event:  Black Peter born.

Source:  Provided by Stanley Hopkins, a young police inspector.

Date:  1855

Event:  Black Peter ran away to sea at age ten.

Source:  A theory proposed by John Harwood. (I could not find a basis for it.)

Date:  1875

Event:  Black Peter's daughter is born at age thirty.

Source:  At the time of Black Peter's death in 1895 he had a daughter twenty years old.

Date:  1883

Event:  Black Michael becomes Captain of the Sea Unicorn at age thirty-eight.

Source:  Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the police inspector. Harwood theorizes Black Peter first took command in 1882.

Date:  August 1883

Event:  Black Peter throws Neligan overboard at age thirty-eight.

Source:  Provided by Patrick Cairns, the Sea Unicorn's extra harpooner.

Date:  1884

Event:  Black Peter retires at age thirty-nine.

Source:  Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the police inspector.

Date:  late 1884 or early 1885

Event:  Shortly after retirement Black Peter travels until 1889.  Age thirty-nine or forty.

Source:  Harwood and Farmer theorize Black Peter discovers Cairn's blackmail plot and signs on as a common sailor on a southbound ship.

Date:  1888

Event:  Black Peter/Michael is a sailor on the Fuwalda at age forty-three.

Source:  Harwood's and Farmer's theory based on Burroughs' Black Michael in Tarzan Of The Apes.

Date:  1889
Event:  Black Peter purchased property near Forest Row, Sussex at the age of forty-four.
Source:  Black Peter had lived there for six years at the time of his death in 1895.

Date:  Wednesday, July 1895
Event:  Black Peter dies at age fifty.
Source:  First Wednesday of July at two o'clock am. Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the
police inspector.           

A Black Peter - Black Michael Chronology

Based on the 1872 Chronology theories of James Michael Moody.

Date:  1845

Event:  Black Peter born.

Source:  Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the police inspector.

Date:  May 1872

Event:  Black Peter/Michael was a sailor on board the Fuwalda.

Source:  May and Fuwalda is provided by ERB-Tarzan Of The APES. At this stage of his life
Carey was going by his middle name, Michael. After the mutiny, Carey switched back to his first name, Peter, and grew a beard to go with his mustache.

Date:  1875

Event:  Black Peter's daughter was born at age thirty.

Source:  After abandoning the Fuwalda, Black Peter has three years to marry and begin a 

family.

Date:  1883 

Event:  Black Peter commanded the Sea Unicorn at age thirty-eight.

Source:  Using his previous sailing experience it is possible Black Peter could have signed on
to the Sea Unicorn shortly after marrying, and earn the rank of Captain in eight years.

Date:  August 1883

Event:  Black Peter throws Neligan overboard at age thirty-eight.

Source:  Provided by Patrick Cairns, the Sea Unicorn's extra harpooner.

Date:  1884  

Event:  Black Peter retired at age thirty-nine.

Source:  Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the police inspector.

Date:  late 1884 or early 1885

Event:  Shortly after retirement Black Peter travels until 1889. Age thirty-nine or forty.

Source:  After traveling Black Peter settles in Sussex and lived there for six years until the time of his death in 1895.

Date:  first Wednesday, July 1895

Event:  Black Peter dies at age fifty.

Source:  First Wednesday of July at two o'clock am. Provided by Stanley Hopkins, the police

inspector.

   

About The Author

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines, over a span of forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory).instead of the more excepted date May 1888.

James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, and Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022. Swordsman On Unium is going through the publishing process.