INTRODUCTION.ON February the First 1887, the Lady Vain was lost by collision
with a derelict when about the latitude 1' S. and longitude 107'
W.
On January the Fifth, 1888--that is eleven months and four days after--
my uncle, Edward Prendick, a private gentleman, who certainly went
aboard the Lady Vain at Callao, and who had been considered drowned,
was picked up in latitude 5' 3" S. and longitude 101' W. in a
small open boat of which the name was illegible, but which is
supposed to have belonged to the missing schooner Ipecacuanha.
He gave such a strange account of himself that he was supposed demented.
Subsequently he alleged that his mind was a blank from the moment
of his escape from the Lady Vain. His case was discussed among
psychologists at t
