Post #630831 by TikiTomD on Sun, Apr 1, 2012 6:59 AM

Continuing with the tale of Dr. Funk and his friend, Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS, or Louis to friends and family), here are some great photos from the National Library of New Zealand...

**Robert Louis Stevenson, his family and Samoans, and the band of HMS Tauranga at Vailima, ca 1890
Reference Number: PA1-q-223-32**
Robert Louis Stevenson, his family and Samoans, and the band of HMS Tauranga at Vailima photographed by Alfred Tattersall

(Louis standing with Fanny in the back center of the photo, wearing a dark blazer)

**Robert Louis Stevenson with Tuimalealufano at Vailima, Samoa, between 1889 and 1894
Reference Number: 1/2-002523-F**
Robert Louis Stevenson with Tuimalealufano at Vailima, Samoa; photographed by Alfred John Tattersall between 1889 and 1894

**Robert Louis Stevenson, shortly before his death, ca 1894
Reference Number: 1/2-015876-F**
Photographer unidentified

On December 3, 1894, Louis was at the dinner table making a salad dressing when he fell unconscious from an apparent cerebral hemorrhage (stroke). Lloyd Osbourne, his step-son, immediately went for his friend, Dr. Funk, but initially encountered Dr. Anderson, the naval surgeon of HMS Wallaroo, who arrived first at the scene. Dr. Funk, with a lame foot, arrived next, all within an hour. But nothing could be done. Robert Louis Stevenson breathed his last at ten minutes past eight, dying at 44 years of age. Belle (Isobel Strong), Louis’ step-daughter, wrote this in her journal on December 4 or 5, 1894, published in The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson – Volume 8...

To be continued...

-Tom