[Rarebooks] FS: Six (6) Ships' Logs, handwritten, 1859-1862

[Bob Petrilla]

Caffin, Crawford. SIX (6) HANDWRITTEN SHIPS' LOGS IN ONE FOLIO VOLUME,
RECORDING THE COMINGS AND GOINGS OF SIX DIFFERENT SHIPS IN THE FLEET OF THE
BRITISH ROYAL NAVY, 1859-1862. Original manuscript. About 325pp of
holograph entries, inked in a legible hand. Unpaginated. 6 consecutive
logs: pp. 195, H.M.S. Mersey; 10pp, H.M.S. Victory; 11pp H.M.S. Fisgard;
13pp H.M.S. Wanderer; 21pp H.M.S. Exmouth; 77pp, H.M.S. Doris. Average four
to seven entries per page, some divided into 24 hour periods. Headings tell
location of ship (or its destination), and each entry offers “bearing and
distance” data, as well as daily “remarks” on sailing progress, technical
usage of steam or sail, daily duties and drills and training exercises, and
the comings, goings, and meetings with other ships. + 7 pencil sketches and
one map in pencil, all hand-drawn on heavy stock and inserted at various
points in the book. The sketches are of high quality, demonstrating
Caffin’s considerable skill as a draftsman. Titled as follows: (a) 2 ½” x
10 ¼” July 8, 1859, “Hobb’s Nose”, Devonshire, depicting mountain and
island at entrance to Torbay. (b) 7 ¾” x 11 ¼” “Peak of Teneriffe” Dec. 25,
1860. (c) 1- ¾” x 7 ½” “Deseria Island” Jan. 1,7, 1861. (d) 5” x 7 ¾” “HMS
Wanderer, 4 guns”, depicting fully rigged ship, preceding title page of the
"Wanderer” log. (e) 2 ¾” x 11 ¼” “Cape St. Vincent and Lighthouse”
(southernmost point of Portugal), Sept. 5, 1861. (f) 4 ¾” x 8 ¾” “View of
Acre from the Sea, April 21, 1862. (g) 4 ¾” x 11 ¼” “Town and Yard of
Rhodes as Taken from HMS Doris, May 15, 1862. The map, 7 ¾” x 10 ½”, shows
the “Track of HMS Wanderer from Plymouth to Malta, Sept. 16th” [1861]--from
Southern England through the Mediterranean to Malta (No. Africa depicted
below), showing each day’s position at sea. Very nicely drawn. ~~ Bound in
quarter leather and cloth with leather cover label, "Log / Kept by / C.C."
Spine ends of the volume are worn, joints starting, interior clean and
legible.

 Very Good. Quarter-leather & cloth.
Crawford Caffin was the son of Sir James Crawford Caffin (1812-83), an
Admiral in the British Royal Navy became a naval-aide-de-camp to the Queen
in 1863 after his noteworthy service in the Baltic, then was made a K.C.B.
(Knight Commander of Bath) in 1868. The younger Caffin, a midshipman during
the time covered by the logs, was later promoted to naval commander for his
services in the transport department during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. ~~
Log #1: H.M.S. Mersey - 40 Guns, Capt. H. Caldwell, C.B. - April 21,
1859-March 23, 1861. This log occupies over half the book (195 pages of
entries). The Mersey, a wooden screw frigate carrying 40 guns, was part of
the Channel Fleet, and according to a contemporary log penned by a crewman
on another vessel of the Fleet (William Loney, of the “James Watt”), she
held 560 men, chiefly “young fellows”. Most of the time in the period
covered by the log, the Mersey “cruizes” up and down the Channel, usually
with other members of “the Squadron”, to Portland Roads, Portsmouth
(“Spithead”), Torbay, etc. She also spends periods that can last up to 8
weeks or so at anchor or moored while the ship is refurbished and the men
continue their training. She does, however, also cruise also “off Ireland,”
and she moors at several places in Ireland and Scotland, and sails all the
way to Jamaica (by way of Portugal) at the end of 1860 , with a stop at
Bermuda in 1861 on the return journey. ~ Setting the pattern for the
following five logs, the Mersey Log, despite its fairly terse language,
provides vivid pictures not only of the daily minutiae of maneuvering the
various sails and the steam boilers and screw, but also of the daily life
of men on duty in the Royal Navy. Caffin not only scrupulously lists the
furling and unfurling of various sails and the other ships of England and
many other countries that come in or out of port (frigates, flag ships, gun
boats, steamers, transport ships, men-of-war, other members of the
Squadron, and various yachts---mostly royal ones), but also carefully
outlines his daily duties and those of the men. These include “condensing
water” (often 3 or 4 tons at a time, making seawater drinkable), “cleansing
the ship thoroughly”; taking on provisions, usually “beef and vegetables”
(“and spirits”), “swinging the ship to adjust standard compasses”; fitting,
repairing, and scrubbing hammocks; “scrubbing and washing” clothes;
“coaling” the ship; holystoning (i.e. scrubbing and whitening the decks),
scraping, caulking and painting the ship; “placing new screw and stowing
old ones [and] fitting new wheel”; scraping the gun carriages, “stowing the
hold” etc. There are “divine services” every Sunday. In addition to the
sailors (midshipmen, first and second-class “boys”, “ordinary seamen”, and
“young gentlemen” i.e. cadets), the ship also houses a variety of craftsmen
including sailmakers, ropemakers, carpenters, and “artificers” who do odd
jobs. ~ All classes of men are daily “mustered at quarters” or by Division
and are “exercised” in gun drill, cutlass drill, rifle drill, knotting and
splicing, “practicing heaving the lead”, firing shot and shell at targets
set up in the water, etc. There is also much “saluting” with gunfire, for
occasions including the arrival of foreign ships bearing dignitaries as
well as ships showing the Admiral’s flag or bearing various Admirals, etc.;
“royal” salutes for Prince Albert’s birthday, in honor of the Empress of
Russia’s birthday, as Her Majesty passes by on another ship, when the Royal
yacht is sighted with its standard flying, and more; and occasions such as
a salute “in honor of the victories in China” (11/5/60). These usually
involve 21 guns, though some require fewer, e.g. 17 guns to salute the
Governor of Bermuda. ~ On the more personal side, the Mersey log also
records the punishment of various sailors, (names and ranks given) usually
with 36-48 lashes “ as per warrant”. These floggings are sometimes
unexplained, sometimes described as being for theft or desertion. There are
several deaths recorded: “washed overboard, James Hayward…and J.
Summers…both being [“drowned” added in pencil]…too great a sea running to
lower a boat” (2/27/60) and “John Beattie fell overboard…and was drowned”
(4/1/60). Another cause of death: “fell from post mail topsail yardarm
Henry Duke…and was killed” (7/1/60). One man even dies a natural (?) death:
“Departed this life Mr. James Rusden (Master)…Sent boats away to convey
remains of James Rusden to his grave” (7/14/60). When the Mersey is at
anchor, “invalids” are taken to the hospital or retrieved from it, men are
sent to “gaol” (e.g. five go to Dorchester Gaol on 11/5/60) and sometimes
new crew members join, e.g. “joined as 1st Lieutenant Mr. Phipps” (2/7/60)
and “received two boys First Class from Cambridge” (10/30/60). The men are
paid monthly, and occasionally Caffin mentions giving various subgroups of
men shore leave. ~ Log #2: H.M.S. Victory - Capt. R. Cook - March 24,
1861-May 28, 1861. The Victory remains at Portsmouth Harbor for the entire
two months of this 9 ½-page log. She seems to be engaged primarily in
training and drilling “boys and school apprentices.” “Read prayers” is
almost a daily entry. The biggest event is the long-lasting firing of guns
“on the occasion of the funeral of the Duchess of Kent”, the Queen’s mother
(3/24/61). ~ Log #3: H.M.S. Fisgard - Capt. H.S. Hawker - May 29,
1861-August 8, 1861. A 46-gun frigate, the Fisgard’s chief business at this
point, like that of the Victory above, seems to be the training of boys and
“novices”. Also like the Victory, she spends the period of the log
anchored, in this case “off Woolwich”, though “working parties” are sent
back and forth to the dockyards, as well as “church parties”. There are,
however, no daily prayer services recorded. This log is 10 ½ pages long. ~
Log #4: H.M.S. Wanderer -
Commander Mr. C. Seymour - August 9, 1861-September 17, 1861. This 13-page
log opens when the Wanderer is at Sheerness (a Royal Naval dockyard on the
island of Sheppey, in North Kent, at the mouth of the River Medway), and
after an inspection by a Vice-Admiral on 8/19, she sails to Plymouth. On
8/31, she starts for Gibraltar, where she arrives on 9/7, and from there
goes on to Malta, where she arrives on 9/17 in the final entry. ~ Log #5:
H.M.S. Exmouth - 90 guns, Capt. J.A. Paynter - September 16, 1861-February
11, 1862. 21 pages, with about 7 entries/page, as opposed to the usual 4 or
5. Like the two ships above, the Exmouth spends the log either “off Naples”
or “moored in the military mode—Naples”. A busy listing of ships arriving
and departing, several “medical inspections”, and the usual drills, e.g.
“young gentlemen firing at target” (10/29). More striking are the unusual
number (4) of deaths : “Fell from aloft and was killed Samuel Light…sent
funeral party ashore to bury the remains…”(1/7/62); “Fell from aloft C.
Simpson (1/27), who “departed this life” on 1/29; “departed this life G.
Hewitt…funeral party sent….” (2/3) and “departed this life James
Demage…funeral party sent” (2/8). Also noteworthy are a desertion (William
Garicault left ship without leave, ditto returned” (11/12); the “firing of
guns in memory of HRH the Prince Consort” (12/24, although Albert died on
12/14); and the observing of “an eruption of Vesuvius (12/8), which was
“still throwing up sand and stones” on 12/17. There are also two floggings.
~ Log #6: H.M.S. Doris - 32 guns, Capt. Sir Leopold McClintock - February
12, 1862-November 27, 1862. The second longest log at 77 pages. The ship
sails around the Mediterranean, while the men are drilled, e.g. “2nd class
boys firing with pistol” (3/26), “ordinary seamen and 1st class boys at
seamanship” (3/28), and “put target overboard. Exercises young gentlemen
and…gun crews, firing at target with shot and shell, grape and case”
(6/16). There is the usual “saluting”, e.g. “saluted the Egyptian flag with
21 guns” (2/29), a royal salute 5/24 in honor of the Queen’s birthday, “a
royal salute and hoisted mast head flag in honor of Her Majesty’s accession
to the throne”, etc. There is a visit from the Prince of Wales (6/3), and
the Doris accompanies the royal yacht from Malta to Marseilles (6/6-6/11),
including a “stop while His Royal Highness bathed” (6/9). In October, the
Doris tows from Tunis to Malta a yacht “which broke her main shaft”
(10/27-30). The many destinations in this log include Corfu, Alexandria,
Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Tyre, Sidon, “Beyrout”, Tripoli, Rhodes, Paros, Patmos,
Smyrna, Sultanieh Castle in the Dardanelles, Cephalonia, Malta, Marseilles,
Messina, Palermo, Naples, Civita Vecchia, and Syracuse. ~ In addition to
the Prince’s visit and the dealings with the royal yacht, noteworthy events
include “divers repairing false keel” (7/7-7/8, 7/10), several floggings,
the “disrating of James Jacobs,(ships corporal) to ordinary seaman”, the
confinement of “Christopher Warde in cuffs for 4 days as per warrant”, and
the day “J. Saunders fell overboard. Stopped and let go life buoy. Lowered
cutter and picked man up” (6/16).  [Our reading notes will accompany this
manuscript.]   $1,800.00

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