[Rarebooks] FS: Whaling Captain's letter (ALS) from Oahu, 1832

[Bob Petrilla]

Smith, Capt. James. HANDWRITTEN LETTER (ALS) FROM THIS WHALING CAPTAIN TO
N[oyce] & W[illiam] W. BILLINGS [New London], DATELINED OAHU, SAND'H
[Sandwich] ISLANDS, DEC. 11, 1832. Original manuscript. One page, octavo,
about 12 lines, readable hand, sepia ink, docketed on verso; some wear at
one fold, no text loss. In part: "The ship Pheonix [sic] under my command
having needed supplys and repairs to enable her to proceed on her
voyage...drawing on you in favour of H.A. Peirce...one thousand nine
hundred and nine dollars.... Please duly honor and charge to owners of said
Ship....James Smith."  9.75" x 8" Good .
The Phoenix sailed out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The Nicholson
Collection includes a log of her voyage from 8 May 1822 to 9 July 1824
under Capt. Benjamin Worth. ~~ The author of this letter, Capt. James
Smith, was well thought of as recorded in The History of New London: "Capt.
James Smith has made ten voyages as captain, and several of them have been
eminently successful. In three successive voyages in The Columbia, made to
the Island of Desolation, from which he returned in 1840, 1842 and 1844, he
brought in, each time, more than 4,000 barrels of oil" [Caulkins, History
of New London, 1895, page 643]. Smith also captained The Hibernia and The
Ajax as well as The Phoenix. "Captain James Smith of the New London ship
Hibernia, who had originated gray whaling in 1845-1846 with an excellent
catch of 22 whales...returned the following winter to make another catch at
least equal to his first" [Jones et al, The Gray Whale, 1984, page 165].
(#036646)        $150.00

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