Journal for the year 1854

You might also be interested in

• Image not available

  Autograph diary of Charles Cochran who went to the gold fields of California

  Manuscripts

  The diary contains argonaut Charles Cochran's descriptions of an ocean journey on the barque "Strafford," which left New York on Feb. 3, 1849, bound for the gold fields of California via the Cape Horn route. Cochran relates adventures on board the ship as well as sightings of other vessels and describes visits to St. Catherine Island (Brazil) and the Island of Mas-a-tierra. The diary ends with Cochran's description of San Francisco Bay on Aug. 29, 1849.

  mssHM 58071

• Image not available

  Henry P. Fleischman journal

  Manuscripts

  Fleischman's journal starts on December 13, 1812 while he is onboard the brig Hunter, which the British ship Phoebe captured on December 23rd. In his journal, Fleischman details how he and his crew mates board the Phoebe and sail for Plymouth where they are put on the prison ship Hector. Fleischman complains about the lack of food and water and the treatment he and his men receive in prison by the British. He also makes comments upon the new prisoners coming in everyday from various American ships that had been captured, as well as the sickness and death onboard. While in prison, he goes ashore to Plymouth to make an official complaint about the prison conditions to an American agent. He and his men eventually get transferred to several different prison ships and there are daily rumors that they are going to be exchanged or paroled. When this part of his journal ends, it is April 1813 and he had been moved to a prison ship at the Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The journal jumps to May 31, and Fleischman is on the frigate Chesapeake; he then details the battle between his ship and the frigate Shannon, including the wounding and eventual death of his captain James Lawrence and the capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon. He also includes a list of officers killed and wounded during the battle.

  mssHM 66770

• Image not available

  J. Barker letters to Kirk Barker

  Manuscripts

  These two letters were written by J. Barker to his brother, Kirk, describing his search for gold in Australia and South America. In the first letter, HM 16535, dated 1853, March 13, J. Barker is in Melbourne, Australia, after a one hundred and ten day voyage. He writes that the prices of everything, including gold, is much higher in Australia, and says there is "plenty of gold to be had but the state of society is awful." In Melbourne, he writes "robery and murder is of comon occurrence" and yet he is "determined not to leave here without making something." The second letter, HM 16536, is dated 1853, October 11 and 14. J. Barker is on board the ship Lady Juliana, about to land in San Francisco, California. He is glad to be out of Australia, and laments that so many miners left good claims in California to travel to Australia. He has received no letters from home, despite having sent six himself. He has heard that gold has been discovered in South America, and he plans to depart for the Amazon River to search for himself.

  mssHM 16535-16536

• Image not available

  George Washington Felt journal

  Manuscripts

  The journal covers Felt's voyages on board the ship Rival from Boston to San Francisco, San Francisco to Callao, Peru, and then from Callao to Hampton Roads. Felt gives great detail regarding the events on board the ship, fights among the crew, daily chores and duties, ships and locations passed, the weather and sea conditions, and the longitude and latitude of the ship. The last few pages of the journal are "reminiscences" Felt wrote after the voyage regarding his feelings about being a sailor and his memories of San Francisco (including a visit to a Chinese Temple), and Callao and the Chincha Islands, Peru. Scattered throughout the journal are sketches of ships drawn by Felt; also included is a photo of Felt.

  mssHM 63174

• Image not available

  Fifty-Nine Years After, Or Recollections of My Adventures by Sea and Land While in Search of Gold in California [typescript]

  Manuscripts

  Cheney's reminiscence covers his voyage to California on the ship Pacific, his arrival in San Francisco August 6, 1849, and his time living in California until he left for Australia in February 1853. Cheney discusses the weather conditions during his voyage and some of the events that took place on board, including the removal of the ship's captain while in Rio de Janeiro; he also discusses his visit to Callao, Peru. Of his time in California, Cheney remembers his attempts at mining and at some other ventures such as selling lumber. He gives detailed descriptions of his time in San Francisco, Coloma, and Sacramento, California, and in the mining towns Bidwell Bar and Antoine Canyon

  mssHM 63644

• Image not available

  Joseph Cleary journal

  Manuscripts

  This journal consists of lines composed by Joseph Cleary on board the Barque Sarmiento during her voyage from Panama to San Francisco, California. Cleary's voyage is told in twenty-seven eight line stanzas, rhymed A B A B, with a four line chorus after each stanza. While more or less honoring the formal requirements of the poem, he manages to report on the ship, the weather, food, sanitation, officers, crew, lack of water, and his fellow passengers. "The rats which in them got / The rankiest odor up did send / As they did slowly rot...With worms our bread was all alive / Our beef & pork did stink / Though it to eat we still did not starve." Death is a also grim reality, "And most of us are yet alive / Though eight are with the dead." In verse twenty, the crew reaches Honolulu, Hawaii, and remains there until verse twenty-five. "But since the Sandwich Isles we've seen / The time does not seem long / For we much better fed have been...Whilst daily we expect to land / And leave this hateful ship." After the twenty-seven line stanzas, there is a bawdy poem about lice feeding in a mining camp, which is written in mirror image cursive. The next poems are titled, "The Miners Prayer," "Epitaph on a Chinese Grave," and "A description of the view from the western summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains." "Those mighty Nevadas with steep and rugged fronts lifted high their lofty brows: peering the ethereal Regions of snows eternal...Overlooking the western world: which from here Presents to the beholder a scene in All its bearings truly wonderful and Sublime." His description of the mountains is followed by a note about Penn Valley, California, on April 27, 1854, "A Miner's Surprise," "A trip to the summit of a mountain near Coloma, Eldorado [El Dorado] County, California," and a long poem to "My Dear Sister." He addresses his sister, "I look upon Ohio now / As a poor place to be hoe and plow / And poorer still to gather wealth / And worse by far respecting health / I almost dread to venture back / Least some disease my frame should rack." There are also acrostics spelling, "Elisabeth Dickson," "Maptha Dickson," "Mary Meguire," and "Catherine Mulholland." The final poem in this volume is titled, "Woman." "They're always trying to employ / Their time in vanity and prate / Their leisure hours in social joy / To spend is what all women hate."

  mssHM 80821