*** start of the project gutenberg ebook 1024 *** the wrecker by robert louis stevenson and lloyd osbourne prologue. in the marquesas. it was about three o'clock of a winter's afternoon in tai-o-hae, the french capital and port of entry of the marquesas islands. the trades blew strong and squally; the surf roared loud on the shingle beach; and the fifty-ton schooner of war, that carries the flag and influence of france about the islands of the cannibal group, rolled at her moorings un...