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Lot 294: 1843 Whaling Logbook

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,500.00 - 9,500.00 USD
Lot  294: 1843 Whaling Logbook
<b>Autographs</b><hr><b>Terrific 1843 Whaling Logbook</b>

<b>(WHALING).</b>
Original Whaling Logbook, manuscripts by Captain 'Benjamin Cartwright,' June 19, 1842 to June 9, 1843, Sag Harbor, NY, hardbound canvas, 12' x 8', 66 pages, Choice Very Fine. Cover appears to be a re-binding, utilizing the original old sail cloth covering, signed in brown ink: 'BENJAMIN CARTWRIGHT HIS BOOK 1843.' Neatly penned logbook for the entire voyage of the American whaler 'SUPERIOR,' sailing from Sag Harbor to the South Seas. Cartwright kept daily entries for the entire period, missing only a short time between July 30 to August 16, 1842. Typical entries show considerable action in 'lowering for whales,' chasing, catching, and bringing them in. Some of the pages contain the classic large stamp in the shape of a whale with the actual number of barrels of whale oil produced, inscribed in the center of each stamp. Most desirable are two pages near the end of the voyage, one of which is entirely filled with whale stamps; the other contains a single whale stamp in May of 1843. Like all whaling journals, this makes fascinating reading, and is typical of the period. One entry is quite unusual, just eight days out of port, the vessel 'came in contact with ice bergs [sic] one we judge to be three miles in length and five smaller ones' [and that was in mid-July! Not far from home port.]
Lightly toned pages, with neat, expressive handwriting in brown ink. A few shadows of pressed foliage on a few pages. Overall quite nice. A fantastic historical piece, capturing the life and times of a whaling captain from the mid-19th century.