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JAMES DALTON [?] : 1862 - 1863 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY AN OFFICER ABOARD THE NAVAL RUN MERCHANT CLIPPER 'THE ELLEN STUART' FROM LIVERPOOL ENGLAND TO CALCUTTA INDIA

4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. On offer is a super, very intriguing, original 1862 - 1863 journal handwritten on board the noted clipper ship 'Ellen Stuart' part of the fleet owned and operated by storied merchant Peter Stuart. The ship was a formidable presence on the oceans between England, Africa and Southeast Asia during the 1850s. The log written by a mariner, likely a first or second officer, perhaps James Dalton, precisely describing the set of sails and changes to the set, weather, position, working or setting 'the people' to task or 'the people employed holystoning the deck, flying fish coming aboard to 'the monkey jumping for pumpkin' making for a technical mariner's dream of a log with a real HM Navy feel in a real life merchant clipper that would please any Forester or Patrick O'Brien fan. While the year is not clearly identified we believe this Liverpool to Calcutta India voyage is dated from Tuesday August 5th 1862 to Saturday May 17th 1863 and while the author is unidentified we believe that an 18 year old fragile letter tucked into the log holds the key. The letter is dated Stanford Terrace Academy December 11th 1845 Ashton [Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester] and is a very first 'Dear Parents' letter on the boy's started at the Academy. The letter is signed 'James Dalton'. We believe the letter was kept by the man who was the boy that wrote that letter for sentimental reasons. Or could it be the father of James Dalton who held the letter whilst he travelled the globe again for sentimental reasons? We can only speculate. The captain throws a champagne dinner for one of the officers birthday and then a tale of his personal goods being stolen, a near unusual crime aboard ship, the searching of another seaman's chest and finding more of the writer's possessions, an admission of guilt but even more unusual no record of the fate or punishment of the sailor, the cat hove overboard by a sailor who saw its mouth foaming, a sailor found dead in his Guernsey frock and much much, more in this 39 page 10 x 11.5 inch well written account of a super voyage to the Asian subcontinent. Overall G+.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

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