Has anyone considered that there is only one Shane, but he is psychologically "interesting"? That he is, perhaps, a seaman in the Coast Guard or the Navy and the Blind River bit is his way of escaping from what his mind (such as it is) considers an intolerable situation? Or that he is a trapper, alone in a cabin in the upper reaches of the NWT or the Yukon, who has slipped a few cogs and actually believes that he is on a Coast Guard icebreaker and in Blind River?

It would explain a lot, wouldn't it?