Details
[SHIP'S LOG]. Manuscript "Journal of a Voyage in the Ship Ceres on Her Passage to the Western Islands," 31 July 1841 - 2 January 1845, Folio. 176 pages in a blank book of 92 leaves, contemporary half sheep and marbled paper boards, worn, occasional dampstains, quarter brown morocco gilt slipcase. Interspersed in the text are some 12 small whale-stamps indicating successful kills of whales.
The present record of the Cere's voyage was apparently kept by one William Eakins of Wilmington, Delaware, an orphan, who was evidently a passenger -- not a crewmember -- of the Ceres. A whaler, the Ceres was commanded by Edward Ayres, and after setting out from Wilmington on 31 July 1841, crossed the Atlantic, coasted south along western Africa and the Cape Verde Islands, rounded Cape Horn, spent Christmas day at Juan Fernandez Island, and commenced to search for whales. Eakins describes a visit from with the natives of "Ohanahoa," and the ship's visits to the "Huahine" Islands (in September 1841), the Falkland Islands and the Rio Plate estuary. The Ceres, to judge from Eakins's unofficial record, was only moderately successful in terms of whales taken. The log is sprinkled with verses: some from well-known poets of the period, others are perhaps original compositions by Eakins himself.
The present record of the Cere's voyage was apparently kept by one William Eakins of Wilmington, Delaware, an orphan, who was evidently a passenger -- not a crewmember -- of the Ceres. A whaler, the Ceres was commanded by Edward Ayres, and after setting out from Wilmington on 31 July 1841, crossed the Atlantic, coasted south along western Africa and the Cape Verde Islands, rounded Cape Horn, spent Christmas day at Juan Fernandez Island, and commenced to search for whales. Eakins describes a visit from with the natives of "Ohanahoa," and the ship's visits to the "Huahine" Islands (in September 1841), the Falkland Islands and the Rio Plate estuary. The Ceres, to judge from Eakins's unofficial record, was only moderately successful in terms of whales taken. The log is sprinkled with verses: some from well-known poets of the period, others are perhaps original compositions by Eakins himself.