The Cruise of the Jolly Roger

First published in a local West Barnstaple magazine, Vonnegut's The Cruise of the Jolly Roger has been described by Jerome Klinkowitz as an "innocuous little story". In today's blog post, you'll find a summary of the short story, as well as information on the settings discussed.

The Cruise of the Jolly Roger Summary

Major Nathan Durant has returned to the United States, after being injured by an enemy projectile while fighting in Korea. Along and feeling without purpose in the army hospital, Durant borrows the dream of a fellow patient and decides to travel to Cape Cod in a cabin cruiser christened “The Jolly Roger”. Durant meets with artists in Chatham, Cape Cod, but is ready to return to the hospital after he finds himself unable to articulate his experiences of war. After realising that an old army buddy, who died during World War Two, lived in a nearby village, Durant decides to stick around and make a few enquiries about his friend, George Pefko. After being informed that Pefko has a small plot of land named after him, known as the George Pefko Memorial Square, Durant watches the village’s parade with Annie, a local girl from a nearby law office. Tom, a boy who’s part of the parade, lays down flowers on Pefko’s square, and when asked by Annie why he’s doing so, he replies:

“He died fighting so we could be safe and free. And we’re thanking him with flowers, because it was a nice thing to do.”

After seeing the “beauty and importance of a village at peace”, Durant gets back his “old spark”, which he believed had left him after leaving the army, and invites Annie to lunch.

Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

During The Cruise of the Jolly Roger, Durant visits Martha’s Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod. However, Durant swiftly leaves, after finding himself “depressed by the tranquillity and permanence, by the feeling of deep, still lakes of time”. In Vonnegut’s short story, there are references to “summer people”, e.g, people who only live on Cape Cod during the tourist season. This also occurs on Martha’s Vineyard, which has a year-round population of 15,000, but during the summer, a population of over 75,000 residents.

The Cruise of the Jolly Roger Facts

• Vonnegut wrote the story in 1953, after leaving his job in PR, at General Electric.
• As described in Jerome Klinkowitz’s Keeping Literary Company, when compiling a bibliography of the author’s work, Vonnegut hinted that Klinkowitz had yet to find “three or four small pieces of his work”. One of the stories Klinkowitz finally managed to track down was The Cruise of the Jolly Roger.

Full List of Settings in The Cruise of the Jolly Roger


United States of America
New London, Connecticut
Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
George Pefko Memorial Square
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Korea