According to the story, the three-masted schooner was found west of Greenland by the whaler Herald on 11 October 1775.

In his cabin there were also the bodies of a woman, a nude boy covered with a blanket, and a sailor with a tinderbox.

The story's supposed background is that the Octavius had left England for the Orient in 1761, and successfully arrived at its destination the following year.

In a 1905 version, traced by author David Meyer, the ship was named the Gloriana, and there was no mention of the Northwest Passage.

[2] The earliest version of the story so far traced by Meyer appeared 13 December 1828 in a Philadelphia-based newspaper named The Ariel: A Literary and Critical Gazette.