REH’s Writings

Exact textual stateDraft

The Girl on the Hell Ship

StateDraft 2Surviving witnesses1TSS catalogue units20

Textual identity is not textual authority. “Catalogue primary/default” selects the default catalogue representation; it does not mean that this wording is automatically Howard’s most authoritative text.

Characters in this exact text

Buck RichardsonBuck RichardsonOn Pagefirst: First identified on deck during the fight.Captain HarriganCaptain HarriganOn Pagefirst: Opening cabin scene; narrator also identifies him as Bully Harrigan.Raquel O'ShaneRaquel O'ShaneOn Pagefirst: Opening cabin scene.Saucy LassSaucy Lass — Wild Bill Clanton's principal schooner in Ship in Mutiny; earlier textual states call the same developmental vessel Lazy LassOn Pagefirst: The schooner is explicitly named in the surviving draft.Wild Bill ClantonWild Bill ClantonOn Pagefirst: First appears on deck as an unnamed stranger fighting Buck Richardson; the bos’n then identifies him as Wild Bill Clanton.

Surviving manuscript evidence

The records below describe surviving physical typescripts, carbons, manuscript material and documentary catalogue evidence for this exact textual state. TSS numbers identify physical catalogue units; they are not story or draft IDs.

Draft 2 — surviving Howard typescriptHoward typescript

Extent20 pagesCompletenessComplete

Physical extent: Complete 20-page untitled typescript; page 10 is misnumbered 9 and subsequent numbering remains one low

TSS: 52797–52812, 24377, 52813–52815

Complete untitled Howard typescript with a continuing pagination error beginning at physical manuscript page 10.

Additional documentary notes

Untitled Witness: First Cuts describes Draft 2 as untitled. (witness level)
Pagination Anomaly: Physical manuscript page 10 is misnumbered as page 9, and the mistaken numbering continues thereafter; the twentieth and final physical page is therefore numbered 19. (manuscript pages 10–20)

Source: First Cuts: The Veiled Manuscripts v1.4, The Girl on the Hell Ship, Editorial Notes p. 3; Draft 2 transcription begins p. 21

Published in

The Veiled Manuscripts - First Cuts: The Drafts and FragmentsREH Foundation PressJune 2026 (paperback) est. July 27, 2026 (hardcover)↗