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UNIDENTIFIED CREWMAN OF THE QUARTERDECK : 1825 ORIGINAL HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPT MERCHANT SHIP LOG BOOK OF THE FOUR MONTH JOURNEY OF THE SHIP ‘ANN’ FROM NEW ZEALAND SAILING ACROSS TWO OCEANS TO LONDON, ENGLAND

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is a thoroughly fascinating logbook of the merchant ship “Ann” sailing in 1825 from New Zealand to England. The book contains pre-printed log pages with entries detailing weather, position, and daily occurrences on board. The entries are often brief but do give a good idea of the main outlines of the voyage. The first entry begins off the coast of New Zealand on April 20, 1825. “Begin this 34 hours with light winds and clean weather. Ship worth employed as the Dutch requested. Middle and latter part light winds and cloudy weather. At midnight the East Cape bare SSW. Distance ___ leagues. At daylight the Wind bare SSW. Dist. 900 leagues the ship steering ESE in AM....” Each entry in the log references the weather in the beginning, middle, and latter part of the day, as well as the direction of the ship, the number and sort of sails and masts used for sailing, and any observations and abnormalities that might have happened during the day. “May 8th, Begin this 24 hours with breezy and fair weather. Ship is steering ESE under single topsail and main topgallant....Middle part fresh breezy and foggy weather with small rain. Ship steering as above. Latter part foggy weather. At 7 let out the ___ of the main topsail. Ship steering as above. Watch varying by employ. At midnight fresh breezy weather...” The ship departs New Zealand and heads ESE towards the southern tip of South America. From South America, the “Ann” heads NNE towards the middle of the Atlantic. “June 15, Commenced this 24 hours with moderate breezy and cloudy weather. Ship under all sails steering to the Northward. Watch varous by employed. Latter part...top gallant steering sail employed getting up the main royal mast.” The ship passes the equator on the 28th of June, a little after departing New Zealand. The ship arrives in London, England on August 4th, 1825. The journey took 3 and a half months. This part is 55 pages in length with 106 daily entries. The logbook also includes log entries one other journey. The entry directly after the journey of the ship “Ann,” there begin entries for the ship “Planet” a decade later, from January 13th to January 26, 1834. In this quick two week journey, the ship goes from New York City to Petersburg, Virginia. The entries are written in a very different hand than the entries of the ship “Ann.” The entries in this portion are much less filled in than the previous ones, and many of the boxes in the entry (such as Knot speed, Course, Force, and others) are simply unused. The remarks also contain a much less detailed description of the ship’s sails and manifests: “January 15, 1834. First part light wind from the NE but breezy light at 10 AM. Got under way from Loffe house still with all sails the wind from the NE but very light. Got down to the Staten Island being no wind...So ends this day.” The ship travels down the east coast: “These 24 hours commence with thick cloudy weather. At 3 pm anchored in Little Egg Harbor in company with several sail in 0 fathom of Water furled all sail. Mid part raining and foggy. Latter part thick foggy and calm. So ends this day.” There is also a mention of the Cape May Lighthouse in Cape May, New Jersey. The ship lands in Petersburg on the 26th. This journey is 8 pages in length, with 14 daily entries. Each page contains two log entries, divided into boxes labelled “H” (for Hour of the day), “K” (for Knot speed), “F” for (Force), “Courses” where the course direction is written, “Winds” describing the direction of wind”, “Lee Way” (the amount of off-course lateral movement of the ship), and “REMARKS, &c. The (left blank for day) day of (left blank for year).” There are also boxes on the bottom of the page for the end of the day report. These boxes are labelled “Course,” “Dist.,” “Diff. Lat” (for the difference in latitude from the beginning of the day), “Dep.” (for sea depth), “Latitude by Acc.” and “Latitude by Obser.” (meaning latitude by acceleration and by observation), “Diff. Long.” (difference in longitude from beginning of day), “Long. by Acc.” and “Long. by Obser.,” and finally “Variation by Acc.” and “Variation by Obser.” The whole book is 65 pages in length, of which 63 pages have writing in them. Almost every single entry in the book is filled with writing and so there is a tremendous amount of information included in these pages. The book is in very good condition. The pages show only a bit of wear and age on the edges, the rest looks very good. Some of the writing, especially for the ship “Ann” has faded and can make the entry difficult to read, but under these entries can be much easier read under direct light. The entries for the ship “Ann” are written in a small, dense script. The writing for the ship “Planet” is a bit easier to read as the writing is larger, however, the author of those passages is a very bad speller, which some entries a bit more difficult than they normally would be. The cover of the book is an absolutely beautiful marbled paper, a light blue-green with veins of gold throughout. It is an absolutely beautiful book from the outside. I could find almost no information about the ships in question here. The only piece found was a handbill advertising the sailing of the Ann from London to New Zealand in 1833 to take emigrees to a new country. It could be that the ship was repurposed from a merchant ship to one capable of carrying many passengers: “The beautiful fast-sailing ship ANN, 55 tons burthen, copper-fastened, and newly-coppered, lying in the London Docks, Wapping Basin. JAMES HERD, Commander.”. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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