7. “The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island” was the model for Karana in Island of the Blue Dolphins
The story of Karana in the children’s novel Island of the Blue Dolphins, allows the young mind to wonder, “What would I do if I was left alone on a deserted island?” Author Scott O’Dell based Karana’s adventures on the true story of the “Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island.” In the nineteenth century, Spanish and Russian settlements stretched from Alaska to California. The Nicoleño, a Uto-Aztecan tribe, lived on San Nicolas Island, located about sixty miles off the Pacific Coast. A group of Alaskan natives who traded for the Russians attacked the Nicoleño tribe, leaving most of the tribe dead.
Twenty years later, in 1835, a ship arrived to transport the remaining Nicoleño to a Spanish mission. As the crew loaded the tribe on the boat, a storm forced the ship to leave before securing everyone on board. In 1853, the fur trapper George Nidever, fascinated by rumors of a woman who lived alone on San Nicolas Island, left California to rescue her. One of his men found her on the island living in a hut made of whale bones. The crew brought the middle-aged woman to the Santa Barbara Mission, but language barriers prevented her from communicating with anyone.
“The Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island” lived with George Nidever and his family at the mission. Seven weeks after she arrived, the Spanish priests baptized her as Juana Maria before she died of dysentery. There are several versions of her experiences, with later editions slightly embellished. One account claims that Juana Maria was on the boat in 1835, but she jumped off to retrieve her younger brother. Although Scott O’Dell included this in the plot of Island of the Blue Dolphins, its authenticity is unlikely, as the story did not appear in the written record until thirty years after Juana died.