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| 1. | "A Younker." (Cobb, Josiah). A GREEN HAND’S FIRST CRUISE... TOGETHER WITH A RESIDENCE OF FIVE MONTHS IN DARTMOOR. Boston and Baltimore. 1841. 2 vols. iv, (1) 278; 329 pp. A scarce recollection of the War of 1812. The author describes his cruise in a privateer, his capture by the British, his time as a prisoner and his months in Dartmoor, with an account of the murder of American prisoners there. The narrative is written in a lively manner and is a rich source of information about naval customs and language of this time. Smith II 739. Howes C-511. The book is something of a publishing oddity. Vol. I, according to the imprint, was published in Boston in 1841. Vol II was published in Baltimore in the same year. They are both in perfectly matching blindstamped publisher’s cloth bindings. This is the finest set I have seen of a scarce title. Each volume bears an inscription written on April 6th 1877, “The Anniversary of the massacre.” $1000 |
| 2. | Arnold, Thomas. THE AMERICAN PRACTICAL LUNARIAN, AND SEAMAN’S GUIDE... Phila. 1822. b/w plates. xviii, 844, 71 pp. First and only edition of a very scarce and rather extraordinary work; being a sort of combination of Bowditch’s Practical Navigator and Blunts Shipmaster’s Assistant, and perhaps created to cash in on the success of these two works. Contents include tables and navigational instruction, as well as natural history, astronomy, sailing directions, practical seamanship, gunnery, naval tactics and “several sketches of trade not generally known” (Sumatran pepper trade, Mocha and Smyrna coffee, Isle de France, Bourbon and Batavia trades, salt trade, West Indian molasses and China trade). This is followed by a section of information for shipmasters, including duties, marine law and insurance. Scarce. Not in Karpinski or Sabin. American Imprints 7840. Scattered light foxing, but an exceptionally nice copy in modern full calf, antique style, with gilt spine rules and morocco label. $1250 |
| 3. | Broadside. “TO BE SOLD BY PUBLIC AUCTION... AT THE GODOWNS OF MESSRS. REVELY & CO. BY ORDER OF CAPT. J. H. EAGLESTON... THE AMERICAN SHIP TROY... PENANG, NOVEMBER 28TH, 1861. Folio sheet. The Troy was a 634 ton American vessel launched in 1854. Apparently she’d been unable to sell her cargo or the owners had fallen on hard times, because the ship was being offered complete with cargo - “as she now lies in the harbor of Pinang, with all her sails, rigging and appurtenances. Her inventory, which is a full one, can be examined on application.” The terms were half down, with the balance in ten days. Penang was an important free port at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca, and Revely & Co. was based there, presumably trading in rice and similar cargoes (they appear in the record three years later with a claim against CSS Alabama for depredations of two of their ships). The Troy and Eagleston were probably on a failed trading voyage. A man of this name was involved in the California trade in ‘49, and may still have been at sea eleven years later. All this is interesting enough. But what is truly arresting about this broadside is that the text is printed also in Malay and Chinese - suggesting that merchants of these nationalities were also considered potential buyers. Rare - I know of no other maritime broadsides printed in these three languages. No holdings on OCLC. And, although there is no place of publication on the document, it was probably printed in Penang at the direction of Eagleston or Revely & Co. Old fold lines, a few expert paper repairs on verso. With a wood engraving of a ship in the upper left hand corner (clearly a recycled illustration, since she is flying a Union Jack). Excellent condition overall. Matted and framed. See Illustration $4500 |
| 4. | (Drinkwater, Lt. Col. John.) A NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH FLEET, COMMANDED BY ADMIRAL SIR JOHN JERVIS, K. B. IN THE LATE ACTION WITH THE SPANISH FLEET, ON THE FOURTEENTH OF FEBRUARY, 1797, OFF CAPE ST. VINCENT’S. IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND. ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT PLANS, SHEWING THE POSITIONS OF THE TWO FLEETS AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF THAT GLORIOUS AND MEMORABLE ACTION. BY AN OFFICER OF HIS MAJESTY’S LAND-FORCES. Lon. 1797. b/w folding plates. 4to. 27, (3) pp. plus 8 plates. First edition of an important eyewitness account of this famous battle, in which Horatio Nelson demonstrated remarkable skill and daring. Published as a letter from Lieutenant Colonel John Drinkwater, who had witnessed the battle from the frigate Lively. In this narrative important Drinkwater is the first writer to call attention to the central role played by Nelson, who had been jealously ignored in the official despatches. Appendices list killed and wounded, vessels of each nation, officers, etc. The plates are battle plans showing position of the fleets at various times throughout the battle. BMM Catalog V, 1799. Cowie, 633. Bound in half leather over marbled boards with gold spine lettering and ornamentation. A very nice copy of a scarce work. See Illustration $2000 |
| 5. | Ephemera. BILLHEAD. STEAM TUG RESCUE. SAN FRANCISCO, 1867. Handsome engraved billhead for towing the clipper ship Swallow from the wharf out to sea in August, 1867. the Rescue’s total bill was $225. For at least part of her career the Swallow was in the tea trade. See Cutler, Greyhounds, pp. 335 and 439. With Revenue stamp. Suitable for display. See Illustration $125 |
| 6. | Ephemera. INSURANCE POLICY ON SHIP ONEIDA, NEW YORK. 1839. Printed folio sheet accomplished in manuscript. Insured by Joseph Grinnell on cargo “at and from Canton to a Port of discharge in the United States, Each kind of Teas & Silks subject to separate average.” With four riders, signed by Joseph Grinnell, for property shipped at Manilla, Indigo shipped at Canton on board the ship Navigator, goods “Arrived by ships Philip 1st, York & Trenton” and excluding certain cargo on the Oneida. Grinnell was a prominent New Bedford merchant who later got into railroads and politics. Attractive New York China Trade document. See Illustration $200 |
| 7. | Ephemera. INSURANCE POLICY ON WHALESHIP WARREN, OF WARREN, RI. WHILE ON HER VOYAGE. 1839. Printed folio sheet, accomplished in manuscript. “Five hundred dollars on catchings aboard said ship from near the coast of New Zealand... Vessel & Outfits $4500`.” Dated 17 July, 1839. This was certainly a supplemental policy, as the Warren was already well into her 1837-40 New Zealand voyage. She returned 235 sperm oil and 3065 whale oil. An attractive document. $125 |
| 8;. | Ephemera. STEAMSHIP PASS, STEAMSHIP WEYBASSETT, NEW YORK AND WEST INDIES STEAMSHIP CO. 1872. Single sheet. This document grants passage aboard the steamer Weybassett from Port Au Prince to one of the outlying islands. Printed form, with details accomplished in manuscript, with display type and a handsome woodcut of a steamship. Nice West Indies display item. $40 See Illustration |
| 9. | Ephemera. TEMPORARY ENROLLMENT - SCHOONER EAGLE OF BOSTON, HENRY C. PIERCY, MASTER. 28 AUGUST, 1844. Printed folio sheet. Accomplished in manuscript. An attractive document with a cut of a ship in the upper left. Manuscript portions give details of the 74 ton schooner. Torn at the upper left edge, but still quite suitable for display. See Illustration$200 |
| 10. | Ephemera - Nautical Trade Catalog. JOSEPH NICKERSON, DEALER IN SHIP CHANDLERY AND SHIP STORES, NOS. 46 AND 47 COMMERCIAL STREET, BOSTON, KEEPS CONSTANTLY FOR SALE PATENT CORDAGE AND COTTON DUCK, ANCHORS, CHAINS, RUSSIA SAIL CLOTH AND BOLT ROPE, OAKUM, PAINTS, OIL, VARNISH, NAVAL STORES, CAMBOOSES, HARD WARE, NAILS, AND A FULL ASSORTMENT OF SHIP STORES. Bos. n.d. 16mo. 20, (2) pp. As well as a list of ship’s stores, there is cabin furniture, a steward’s list, cook’s list, sailmaker’s stores, carpenter’s tools, cooper’s tools, paints, oil and naval stores, iron shives and joiner’s furniture, plus an unnumbered leaf listing provisions, each of these categories with room for manuscript entries listing amount to be purchased, etc. Some of these manuscript entries and additions have been made in pen and pencil. A rare survival and very extensive, probably dating from the mid-19th century. OCLC shows no holdings for this title, but lists a similar catalog by “Randall, Goodale & Co. successors to Joseph Nickerson & Co” from 1887. Self wrappers, sewn as issued. Thread broken. See Illustration $350 |
| 11. | Haddon, A.C. and James Hornell. CANOES OF OCEANIA. Honolulu. 1936, 1937, 1938. b/w plates, ills. 3 vols. ix, 454; vi, 342; ii, 88 pp. First editions of the complete three volume set. The subject of Vol .I is Canoes of Polynesia, Fiji and Micronesia; Vol. II is Canoes of Melanesia, Queensland, and New Guinea; Vol. III concerns itself with Definition of Terms, General Survey, and Conclusions. The set was issued by the Bishop Museum, and is still the great work on the subject. VG in original stiff wraps, as issued. See Illustration $1250 |
| 12. | Haddon, A.C. and James Hornell. 2 CANOES OF OCEANIA. Honolulu. 1936. b/w plates, ills. ix, 454 pp. Vol. I only. VG in original stiff wraps, as issued. $300 |
| 13. | Herreshoff, Jeannette Brown. THE EARLY FOUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HERRESHOFF MANUFACTURING COMPANY. (Tampa. 1949) b/w plates, ills. Unpaginated. About 50 pp. Privately printed family and business history by the “eldest daughter of the eldest of the seven brothers...” The brothers were grandsons of Charles Frederick Herreshoff who came to America from Germany in 1787 and settled in New York. She concentrates on the earliest years of the company, through the 1870s and 80s, with reference to family correspondence that does not appear elsewhere. Quite scarce in the trade. Bound in stiff blue wrappers. VG $250 |
| 14. | House of Commons. PROCEEDINGS OF THE COURT MARTIAL, HELD ON THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF HIS MAJESTY'S LATE SHIP THE JAVA. Lon. 1813. Hand colored battle plan. 4to. 18 pp. plus folding colored plate. This is the printed record of the Admiralty court-martial of Java’s first lieutenant, Henry Chads, and her remaining officers, for her capture and destruction by the Constitution off Brazil in December 1812. Chads was Java’s first lieutenant and succeeded to command when Captain Lambert was killed by musket fire from the Constitution. The court-martial was held on board HMS Gladiator in Portsmouth, April 1813, and the court was headed by Rear Admiral of the Blue Graham Moore, second in command of His Majesty’s ships at Spithead and in Portsmouth. The text consists of testimony by various officers as to what happened in the course of the battle, so it is, in effect, a contemporary record of eyewitness accounts. With a terminal hand-colored folding plate entitled: “Track of the Action. December 29th, 1812,” engraved by J(ame)s Basire. Rare, OCLC locating only three copies - at LOC, Smithsonian, and NYPL. Bound in antique-style quarter calf See Illustration $2250 |
| 15. | Humphrey, Heman. THE PROMISED LAND, A SERMON DELIVERED AT GOSHEN, ( CT) AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REV MESSRS. HIRAM BINGHAM, AND ASA THURSTON AS MISSIONARIES TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. Bos. 1819. 40 pp. First edition of an important sermon, which Lefkowicz calls “the corner-stone of missionary history in the Sandwich Islands.” The sermon sets forth the terms on which the missionaries were sent to Hawaii, and exhorts Thurston, Bingham, and the “beloved females of the mission” to the completion of their labors. The mission commenced in 1820, just after the death of Kamehameha I, and had a profound influence on Hawaiian culture. They brought with them four Hawaiians who had been trained in the US, and frequent mention is made of them in the text. The famed Henry Obookiah is also lauded, though he had died a saintly death before the mission departed. Hill 852 (who calls it a “rare pamphlet”). Forbes 499. Not in Hunnewell. Removed from larger volume. Text clean. $250 |
| 16. | (Irving, Washington.) BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES LAWRENCE, ESQ. LATE A CAPTAIN IN THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES: TOGETHER WITH A COLLECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING PAPERS, RELATIVE TO THE ACTION BETWEEN THE CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON, AND THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN LAWRENCE, &C., &C. EMBELLISHED WITH A LIKENESS. New Brunswick (NJ). 1813. b/w frontis. 12mo. (5), 6-244 pp. Lawrence’s “Don’t give up the ship!” death in the battle between the Chesapeake and the Shannon immortalized him in the imagination of the young republic. This is the first book edition of the great American novelist’s biography of our own Nelson-like hero. The account printed on pages 9-55 first appeared in the Analectic Magazine for August 1813. Two poems by Francis Arden memorializing Lawrence are included on pages 241-244. Howes I-82 (an “aa” rating); Moebs 155. See BAL 10101 for the Irving attribution. Bound in later quarter red morocco and marbled boards. A very nice copy of a scarce and important book. See Illustration $850 |
| 17. | Manuscript. ELEVEN DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WHALESHIP LION, 1849-1853. 11 pp. mansucript. These range from the mundane - a printed receipt for pilotage at Auckland - to the exotic - details on two stowaways who were discovered and recruited at 1/150th of a lay. The accent is definitely on the exotic. Other documents include a bill from Auckland police for recovering a deserter, promissory notes from crewmen who received loans from land sharks, a receipt of payment indemnifying three crewmen in some obscure manner, and a document in French from Papeete billing the ship for the costs of imprisoning two crewmen. Several of the papers are signed by James Nichols, the ship’s Master. a Fascinating lot. $750 |
| 18. | Manuscript. NOTES REGARDING THE SALE OF A SAG HARBOR WHALE SHIP. CA. 1850. 1 page manuscript. This document spells out exactly what is to be purchased, how the ship is to be delivered. Definitely a whale ship since, “The Breaks can go with the ship provided the purchasers find good & sufficient Oil casks to start them into.” Any damage prior to arrival of more than 5% her agreed value will void the contract. The present owners would be responsible for all outstanding debts. An interesting bit of whaling minutia, dated roughly by the collection from which a prior owner removed it. $100 |
| 19. | Manuscript - Agents Willets & Co. TWO WHALING LETTERS FROM WILLETS & CO., NEW YORK, TO W. H. NELSON, SAG HARBOR. 1854. 4to. 3 pp. manuscript. The letters are dated January 27 and February 10, 1854. They concern the fate of the ship Montauk, of which Willets & Co. say, “for another voyage at least she will be more likely to pay us good interest in the freighting business - than at whaling & should think it was time enough to move in the matter when she returns.” (She was engaged on a merchant voyage at that time.) The Montauk had come in by the time of the second letter. “The Montauk freight list is abt. $7500 which he requests us to get insured.” There follows a detailed discussion of interest rates, fractions of shares, fitting out costs, and estimates of the vessel’s net worth ($25,000). They resolve to make their decision dependent “upon the provisions they (the outfitters) may make in payment of their portion of the outfit & upon what proportion of the vessel we can dispose of at $20,000 after her cargo is discharged... We do not want to put more than 1/8th of so high a cost... but possibly may be induced to go to 3/16.” Apparently they were. According to Lund the Montauk sailed on her only whaling voyage 1854-1859. A fascinating look at the kind of financial considerations that went into financing whaling voyages. $450 |
| 20. | Manuscript - Alexander R. Miller. CIVIL WAR NAVAL JOURNAL KEPT BY ALEXANDER R. MILLER, QUARTER GUNNER ABOARD VARIOUS VESSELS ON THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 1862-1864. 8vo. Over 125 pp. manuscript entries. About 45,000 words. This is a highly detailed account of Civil War action on the Mississippi River. On the first page of his journal Miller sums up his activities from the time of his enlistment on August 1, 1861 - Charlestown and Washington Navy Yards, Dahlgren Naval Battery above Alexandria, and then his transfer to Cairo, Illinois aboard the U.S.S. St. Louis, a recently launched stern wheel casement gunboat. By the second page of the journal, which commences on Feb. 6, 1862, we’re in the thick of the battle for Fort Henry and some hot action for the gunboats. “The Essex received a shot through her Boilers, disabling her and scalding her Captain and a large number of her crew... we was unable to take many prisoners on account of our troops not arriving until two hours after the Fort surrendered.” The action continues at this level, as the gunboat attacks Fort Donelson on Feb. 14. The fort and 15,000 troops surrender to Grant and the gunboat moves down to Columbus, Kentucky, then on to participate in the capture of Island No. 10 on April 8th, and nearly continuous action against Rebel gunboats off Fort Pillow. After the surrender of Memphis June 7 they steam down the White River for more action, including Fisk’s attack on the batteries at St. Charles. Finally, on the heels of more than half a year of continuous fighting, the St. Louis returns to Memphis, where she is re-named the Baron DeKalb, then steams to Cairo in October for repairs... And this is just the first 25 pages of the journal! By Christmas of 1862 they rendezvous with Adm. Porter on the Yazoo River. In an engagement on the Arkansas River in January, two of Miller’s shipmates are killed and six wounded. The next month they take part in the Yazoo Pass Expedition, and Miller notes conditions ashore - “Guerillas set fire to all the cotton that would be likely to fall into our hands.” In March, on the eve of Grant’s failure to reach Vicksburg by this route, more of his shipmates die during the bombardment of Fort Pemberton. At the end of April they take part in the feint on Haynes’s Bluff - “While dropping down the river a party of Rebels fired into us from an old Shebang we landed some thirty men and pursued them and captured a Lieutenant killed a major and Captain a regiment secreted behind a levee opened fire on our men...” On July 4th he records the surrender of Vicksburg. On July 13th, on the Yazoo, the De Kalb strikes a torpedo “causing her to sink in twenty minutes all hands saved... Thus endeth the cruise of the De Kalb after being in 13 engagements and 6 scrimmages.” There follows a 2 page list of his sea chest purchases aboard the De Kalb and the Lafayette. Miller is then reassigned to the steam ram Lafayette, which takes part in the Red River campaign, and the siege and surrender of Port Hudson. After a recapitulation of her role at Vicksburg, Miller reports the ongoing campaigns, the blacks constantly coming aboard in the wake of Rebel defeats, and the logistics of providing for them. He recounts the story of two women captured by the Rebels, court courts martial, and nearly continuous action with the Rebels ashore. In March, 1864, he records the action against Fort De Russy (where the Lafayette and the Choctaw both run aground). On April 1, 1864, at Alexandria on the Red River, he reports, “Large numbers of the Citizens are (en)listing in the army and taking the oath of allegiance.” The next week he gives a three page account of the Ouachita Expedition (unrecorded in such standard sources as “Civil War Chronology”) and, in the course of his account, mentions that “the Guerilla chief Quantrill is reported having a force outside the city.” On April 15 he reports, “U.S. Mail Boat Gen. Lyons returned down and reports Fort Pillow captured by Gen Forest’s Calvary, the garrison hung Negroes troops the Rebels showed no quarter, the(y) killed 400 niggers.” On August 12 he is transferred to the mail boat General Lyons. He cashes out and departs Cairo on September 21 for New York. Bound in full sheep, rebacked, with a nice stationer’s label from New Orleans. A few signatures loose but holding. Writing legible and pages clean. No amount of summarizing can do justice to level of detail - everything from description of major battles, to information on guns and armament, to reports on foraging parties, to descriptions of packing his vessel with protective wads of cotton and hay. This is a remarkable narrative. See Illustration $12500 |
| 21. | Manuscript - Alexandrina. “JOURNAL. SHIP ALEXANDRINA FROM LONDON FOR OTAGO NZ. 1866.” 12mo. 101 pp. manuscript entries. Approx. 12,000 words. The journal keeper was an anonymous seaman who, in a small, neat hand, recorded events during a voyage to Port Chalmers, New Zealand, and back home, June 9, 1866 - May 30th 1867. He’s a salty cuss - “a bad pain in my gills, what they call ashore a toothache” who goes into great detail about daily life aboard ship - the nautical evolutions, but also the politics among the men and the mates, and the alliances and conflicts among the men themselves. He recalls his home in Lynn, where his father made malt for Eyre brewery, and gripes like any good man before the mast. He has his enemies among the crew, but his true nemesis on the voyage out is a raccoon, a pet of one of the passengers. Several antic scenes record confrontations between him and the animal, and his constant scheming to do away with it. A good deal of the journal records their time in Port Chalmers, which seems primarily to have been devoted to shipboard maintenance, drinking and fighting, alternating with entries like, “The ship nearly alive with rats they run over us in our bunks, squaking & tormenting us fearfully.” or, “Two gangs pressing at night.” On the voyage home he gives a long and detailed account of the ship’s battle to survive a hurricane - “The Capt. called the steward & told him to serve out some grog & we wanted it too, for we had neither grog nor prog (food) since yesterday...” Overall, he is an excellent story teller, and his anecdotes and adventures are appealing and entertaining. Real journals by real seamen are rare - mostly because they were too unlettered, itinerant or unreflective to keep a record of life around them. This is a marvelous example of such a journal. Bound in stiff maroon cloth. Writing clean and legible. See Illustration $2750 |
| 22. | Manuscript - Alfred C. Davis. ALFRED C. DAVIS, WESTPORT, TO WM. HATHAWAY (NEW BEDFORD), MARCH, 1860. 1 page manuscript. Davis declines a command offered by Hathaway, “I have decided not to go a whaling within the next six or eight months.” He leaves open the possibility of a later command on the Atlantic, and recommends his old mate, Benjamin Gifford, for his spot as Master. Davis was successful enough to pick and choose. He commanded whaleships out of Westport and New Bedford from 1846 to 1875. An unusually self-assured dialogue with an owner. $200 |
| 23. | Manuscript - Andrew E. Bradford. TWO LETTERS WRITTEN BY SEAMAN ANDREW E. BRADFORD, CHINCHAS ISLANDS AND NEW ORLEANS, TO HIS FATHER, “CAPT. EBEN BRADFORD, WALDOBORO, MAINE. 1854-56. 7 pp. manuscript. About 1500 words. In the first letter Bradford consoles his father on the death of his little brother, then writes about his itinerary - from the Chinchas to Callao, Hampton Roads, New York - and then about his experiences at sea, rounding the Horn, and some technicalities of shipboard evolutions and sail handling. In the second letter, posted from New Orleans two years later, he talks about his safe arrival there after loading “1500 kegs of extra fine rifle powder, a rather warm work that would have made if fire had got to it.” Now they are taking on cotton, staves and tobacco for Bordeaux. In his rambling way, he talks about details of loading cargo, then wishes he were home helping with the hay. He’s satisfied with his ship and his wages, and doubts he could do better elsewhere. He brags about giving up tobacco, wishes his Mom could see his whiskers, and happily whiles away three pages talking to his Dear Father, evidently a much-loved role model. Letters from common seamen are scarce, and these are excellent examples of the genre. $350 |
| 24. | Manuscript - Bark Catalpa. ACCOUNT BOOK OF BARK CATALPA ON CHINA TRADING VOYAGE, 1863-1866. 4to. Approximately 40 pp. manuscript entries. This book gives accounts of the seventeen officers, owners and crew members involved in the voyage to Shanghai and Nagasaki, probably from New York. There is a stamp from the Consul General at Shanghai, and Nagasaki is mentioned in the accounts by name. Each individual’s account lists money fronted and goods and services purchased against wages. So we get a clear view of the economics of hiring the crew, and also of the crew’s habits. The cook, for example, also contracted out the services of a cabin boy, and served as steward when the billet could not be filled otherwise. He was docked for washing, for lost materials (napkins) and money forwarded him against his pay. Catalpa is an unusual name for a ship, and of course was made famous by the Bark Catalpa, a New Bedford whaleship which in 1876 rescued Irish rebels from an Australian prison. Well, it so happens that the whaleship was withdrawn from the trade in 1860 and sold to San Francisco in 1862. Starbuck and Lund have no further record of her until a whaling voyage in 1867, when Starbuck notes, “Added 1866 from New York; formerly a whaler... sold to Gloucester in 1873.” From there she was sold to New Bedford, where she was purchased for $5200 in 1875 and used in the daring rescue. Of that 1875 voyage Starbuck notes - “Returned to whaling; fitted ostensibly for whaling, but was owned by parties who dispatched her to Australia, where she rescued the Fenian prisoners.” An interesting document with a fascinating history. Bound in half cloth over marbled boards. Text clean and legible. See Illustration$1250 |
| 25. | Manuscript - Bark Helen Mar. “WHALE OIL ACCOUNTS BOOK FOR BARK HELEN MAR. L.N. HERENDEENS MASTER. SAILED FROM SAN FRANCISCO APRIL 18 1866.” 10 pp. manuscript entries. Despite its apparently mundane subject matter, this account book posits an interesting riddle. Both Starbuck and Lund have the Helen Mar sailing from New Bedford on April 18, 1866. The person who entered these accounts and who, presumably, ought to know where the ship sailed from, has her departing San Francisco on the same date. If this this true she would have been one of the first whalers to make that city her home port (although many were to follow). The entries document whale oil transshipped and sold via various carriers - the Cawilla, the Whistler (carrying 122 barrels of Sperm oil “shipped home from Honolulu via San Francisco”), Martha, Syren, Eugenia between 1866 and 1871. Starbuck remarks only that she was “Bought from Boston. 1865.” Bound in green paper wrappers, excellent condition. See Illustration$500 |