Milo Calkin journal of a voyage on a whaling vessel and shipwreck in the South Pacific | Collections | The Huntington

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Manuscripts

Milo Calkin journal of a voyage on a whaling vessel and shipwreck in the South Pacific

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Description: The journal begins with Calkin leaving Auburn, New York on September 24, 1833, for Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he signs on to the crew of the whaling ship Independence, captained by Isaac Brayton. Calkin provides descriptions of whaling, icebergs, other ships encountered, a burial at sea, storms, and weather. The journal chronicles the ship's journey around Cape Horn to Chile and Peru, including a visit ashore to Lima and its Bellavista and Callao areas with descriptions of a Catholic Church and damage from the 1746 earthquake; the Galapagos Islands; the Marquesas Islands and Nuku Hiva, where he describes the Indigenous people and details a fatal encounter of two shipmates with locals; and to the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). Following the shipwreck of the Independence on Starbuck Island on December 13, 1835, Calkin describes taking shelter on the deserted island and then going to sea in smaller boats with crewmates, eventually landing in the Cook Islands--first on Manuae Atoll, also known as the Hervey Islands, then Aitutaki and Rarotonga. The journal contains descriptions of the islands, local inhabitants, flora, and Christian missionaries encountered. Calkin then travels to the Sandwich Islands in November 1836, where he lives until January 1842; there is little description of his life there. The journal also contains 13 watercolor sketches of whales and whaling, icebergs, birds, flora, an iguana on the Galapagos Islands, and buildings in the Sandwich Islands. Some of the journal appears to have been written retrospectively. Also present is a loose letter from U.D. Kellogg, Harpersfield, Ohio, to Kezia Calkin, Sandusky, Ohio, approximately 1835 (1 page).

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