Lot Essay
U.S. law required a certain number of Americans to have signed articles for a whaling licence to be granted. Although Atkinson was British, he was granted U.S. citizenship to enable the trip to continue.
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Details
A contempoarary diary containing descriptions of life aboard an American whaler
starting on 3rd January 1845 and written in neat copper-plate script, the diary describes initally a voyage from England on the Saint Mark with a description of arrival in New York: ...New York is said to be the most populated city in the Western continent. As far as regards the city it is very badly laid out. The streets are very narrow..., a description of life aboard a whaling ship with a list of accoutrements, the text interspersed with detailed illustrations of topographical scenes, whales, flying fish, the vessel, a flogging, a detailed outline of the vessel with a reference key and others, written on hand numbered pages [1-56], between hardboards (loose pages, spine distressed); together with another, similar, also for 1845, in a different hand, the text occasionally stamped with coloured impressions of whales (front cover detached, old water staining); together with an American [Maine] certificate of citizenship for Thomas Atkinson, a photograph of Thomas Atkinson as an elderly gentleman with a 'claw' hand, and other documents, the diarys -- 13 x 8in. (33 x 20)
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