Manuscript documents and letters, illustrating the daily life and responsibilities of sea captains in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The collection includes documents relating to Captain Robert Poultney in Jamaica and letters on personal and naval matters addressed to Captain John Wainwright. Also included are descriptions of coastal areas and navigation hazzards, documents relating to obtaining supplies, a ship's newsletter, and a colored map ("Rochfort et les Environs").
Description:
Robert Poultney was the captain of the ship Loretta in Jamaica in 1762-1764., John Wainwright of the Royal Navy served in the East Indies and the Mediterranean, fought throughout the Napoleonic Wars, and is remembered for the destruction of the pirate town Ras-al-Kayma while captain of the ship Chiffonne., and In English, with one letter in French.
Subject (Geographic):
Mediterranean Region and Brittany (France)
Subject (Name):
Poultney, Robert., Wainwright, John, Captain., Chiffonne (Ship), Great Britain. Royal Navy, and Loretta (Ship)
Subject (Topic):
Officers, Sea life, Aids to navigation, Coasts, Navigation, Seafaring life, Ship captains, and Description and travel
1791 May 11-12, 1798 December 6, and 1814 March-1815 February
Call Number:
WA MSS S-126
Collection Title:
Voyage from Boston : to the north west coast of America, 1800-1820 / by Ralph Haskins
Image Count:
85
Alternative Title:
Journal of a voyage from London to Madeira, in the ship John Adams of Boston, James James, Commander - kept by James Elburn mate and Navigation began 6th December 1798
Description:
Imperfect: several pages between p. 4-5 of first section have been removed., In three sections according to orientation of text; each section paginated separately by the cataloger., and Volume contains unnumbered pages as well as text written in both directions.
Subject (Geographic):
Boston (Mass.) --1810-1820 and Massachusetts
Subject (Name):
Haskins, Ralph, 1779-1852
Subject (Topic):
Seafaring life and Voyages and travels --History --19th century
A daily journal of the voyage of the brig Otter, commanded by Samuel Hill from Boston to the Alaskan coast by way of the Sandwich Islands. Samuel Furgerson describes places visited, natives, and trade with the Indians, particularly along the Alaskan coast and Queen Charlotte Islands. The last entry comes from Thanikyloo Bay. The map, which is in color, shows the path of the brig Otter along the Northwest Coast of America., Gift of William Robertson Coe., Original binding., and Samuel Furgerson: ship's carpenter on trading voyage to the Pacific Northwest.
Subject (Geographic):
Hawaii--Description and travel, Northwest Coast of North America--Maps, Northwest, Pacific--Maps, Pacific Coast (Alaska)--Description and travel, Pacific Coast (B.C.)--Description and travel, and Queen Charlotte Islands (B.C.)--Description and travel
Subject (Name):
Hill, Samuel and Otter (Brig)
Subject (Topic):
Indians of North America--Alaska, Indians of North America--British Columbia, Seafaring life, Seamen--United States, and Voyages and travels--History--19th century
Accompanied by a folder of newspaper clippings, drawings, labels, and other ephemeral items dating between 1858 and 1897, which were received with the diary. and Bound manuscript diary ([275] pages) which begins on March 18, 1879, as Benson leaves Boston for Madagascar and Zanzibar. He arrives in Tamature (Toamasina), Madagascar, in mid-June 1879, spends a month in port, and then two weeks in Zanzibar. After stopping at Saint Helena, the Glide returns to Boston on December 5, and sails again for Zanzibar on December 29. Benson is still at sea when he ends the volume on June 19, 1880, writing that he "shall continue the journal in another book Called The 'Homeward Bound.'" Benson routinely notes the vessel's coordinates and number of days away from home; the weather conditions; all shipboard tasks, activities, and visitors; and the physical ailments suffered by crewmembers, to whom he administers medical treatments. He is also highly introspective and records his personal thoughts and feelings, including those about his wife Margaret Jenny Benson (d. 1921). The diary contains images of women and children which were clipped from periodicals and glued and tipped-in inside covers and on pages throughout; several pieces of paper with manuscript notes are laid in. The final pages of the volume hold lists of items and payments received from the ship's captain, and of provisions on board and to be acquired at ports on route.
Description:
Charles Benson (1830-1881) was an African American sailor serving as steward on the bark Glide, a merchant ship carrying bales of cotton goods to Madagascar and Zanzibar, and picking up rubber there. For further information on Benson and his diaries see Michael Sokolow, Charles Benson: mariner of color in the age of sail ( 2003)., In English., and Purchased from Bray Books on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2007.
Subject (Geographic):
Madagascar--Commerce--United States, United States--Commerce--Madagascar, United States--Commerce--Tanzania--Zanzibar, and Zanzibar--Commerce--United States
Subject (Name):
Glide (Bark)
Subject (Topic):
African American sailors--Massachusetts--Salem, Merchant ships--United States, Sailors--Medical care, and Seafaring life
The brig Lydia was on a fur trading voyage from Boston to the northwest coast of North America in 1805-1807, Capt. Samuel Hill in command. Along with the log, the volume contains an account of the rescue of John Thompson and John R. Jewitt from the Indians.
Subject (Geographic):
Northwest Coast of North America
Subject (Name):
Hill, Samuel, Jewitt, John Rodgers, 1783-1821, Lydia (Brig), Thompson, John, and Walker, William, Jr.
Subject (Topic):
Fur trade--Northwest Coast of North America--19th century, Indian captivities, Indians of North America--Northwest Coast of North America, Seafaring life, and Voyages and travels--History--19th century
The brig Lydia was on a fur trading voyage from Boston to the northwest coast of North America in 1804-05, Capt. Samuel Hill in command. Along with the log the volume contains an abstract from Joel Richardson's journal regarding the Atahualpa massacre, the 1805 log of the Atahualpa which sailed from the northwest coast to Canton, China, and the 1807 log of the Swift which sailed from Canton to New York.
Subject (Geographic):
Northwest Coast of North America
Subject (Name):
Atahualpa (Ship), Hill, Samuel, Lydia (Brig), Richardson, Joel, and Swift (Ship)
Subject (Topic):
Fur trade--Northwest Coast of North America--19th century, Massacres, Seafaring life, and Voyages and travels--History--19th century
Holograph journal of the ship Leviathan, flagship of Admiral Duckworths command group in the Mediterranean and off Spain from May 1799 to May 1800. The logbook tracks weather conditions, routine activities on all of the ships under his command and signal
Manuscript on paper of a fair copy of the ship’s journal kept by the first mate of the pink Batchelor from 2 November 1669, off the Cape Verde Islands, to 4 April 1670, off the coast of Patagonia. The daily entries contain details of the Batchelor’s voyage, including wind measurements, soundings, and sightings of land, and are particularly full for February and March of 1670, the period when the Batchelor lost contact during violent weather with its sister vessel the Sweepstakes, commanded by Sir John Narborough, and began its solo journey back to England.
Description:
31 blank leaves at end not scanned., In ink., This copy, which is annotated by the Earl of Sandwich, may have been made for the Royal Navy’s investigation of the incident in early 1671, when the Sweepstakes was still supposed lost., and Verso of front flyleaf annotated by Edward Montagu, Earl of Sandwich identifying the pink Batchelor and its voyage to the Straits of Magellan "to make discovery of advantages to be had in Trade or otherwise There."
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain --History, Naval --Stuarts, 1603-1714, Great Britain. Royal Navy, Great Britain. Royal Navy --History --17th century, and South Atlantic Ocean --Discovery and exploration
Subject (Name):
Batchelor (Warship), Narbrough, John, Sir, 1640-1688, and Sandwich, Edward Montagu, Earl of, 1625-1672
