About this Item
Autograph Letter Signed. Folio. 3pp. U.S. Ship Falmouth, San Francisco, California: January 1, 1849. Modest soiling, a few small closed tears and splitting along two folds, good or better. A detailed personal letter in which an elder seaman "trained in the school of adversity, who has been long rocked upon the ocean ." describes the difficulties of a seaman's life on board a "Man of War", in hopes of securing future employment from the father of a young sailor whom he has befriended on board the *Falmouth*. Launched in 1827, the sloop of war *Falmouth* made cruises with the West Indies and Pacific Squadrons, and operated chiefly in the Gulf of Mexico during the 1840s, where she was flagship for the Squadron's commander, and blockaded Mexican ports during the Mexican-American War. Recommissioned in 1849, at the time this letter was written *Falmouth* was preparing to cruise in the Pacific to protect the new American settlements on the west coast. The seaman, Sullivan Morris, writes to Rueben Button of Manchester, New Hampshire, to "inform you of the welfare of William your son, and to inquire of you, if there is any chance for employment in or about the place you reside, for a man like me ." To that end, he describes himself as a mentor to William, who ". will emerge from this scene of contagion like gold tried by the fire with new value . But as regards the character of a Man of War . there is scenes practiced on board of them, over which Angels weep . Here is tyranny and oppression . here is the learned and the unlearned, the Jew and the gentile, the scribe and Pharisee. Here man drops the mask of dissimulation and show out plainly what he really is, and with many of them their brutal actions show their brutal minds . But enough of these scenes . William my chum is buoyant in spirits, and blest with good health ." He concludes with greetings from his son, and further reflections on his plight written in verse "composed on board the Falmouth" - "How galling is servitudes chain; When governed by tyrannies chart; Midst tyrants who glory in blood . My tears fall unseen in the flood . Here virtue must struggle or bleed . But bless God, I yet have a friend ." A compelling personal letter, giving the view of a â learned' seaman's experience on board an American Man of War stationed on the Pacific coast at the beginning of the California gold rush. Seller Inventory # 544785
Contact seller
Report this item
