Ames Sullivan Dorr (1 results)

None. Condition: None. Folio (ca. 34x20,5 cm or 13 ¼ x 8 in). Ca. 60 leaves (15 at the rear blank). Brown ink and pencil on lined paper, filled in on recto and verso; in all ca. 89 pp. of text. Original light brown quarter sheep journal with marbled papered boards. Covers with chipping on the lower outer corners, spine with cracks and minor losses, water stains on the lower corners on text pages; overall good journal with legible text. Copy of the letter from USS "Jamestown:" Sitka, Nov, 15th 1867. Folio (ca. 34,5x21 cm or 13 ½ x 8 ¼ in). Bifolium with manuscript text on rectos of both leaves. Brown ink on lined paper; docketed on verso of the second leaf. Fold marks, minor soiling on verso of the second leaf not affecting the text, otherwise very good. Appointment papers: Navy Department, 9 August 1866 and 30 January 1874. Both Quarto (ca. 25x20 cm or 9 ¾ x 7 ¾ in). Printed forms completed in manuscript; brown ink on wove paper; both with additional manuscript remarks on the upper margins. The 1874 form with an ink stamps of "Flag Ship Wabash, U.S. European Fleet" and dates on recto and verso. Fold marks, paper slightly age-toned, otherwise very good. An interesting collection of original documents related to the history of the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States and the first raising of the American flag over Sitka on October 18, 1867. The collection was created by a U.S. naval officer, Sullivan Dorr Ames and dates back to his service on board the U.S. steamer "Resaca" in 1866-1869. Commissioned in 1866, "Resaca" was assigned to the U.S. Pacific Squadron to relieve the USS "Jamestown" on its patrol of the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America. While in port in Panama, both ships suffered the outbreak of yellow fever ("Jamestown" - 59 cases, 21 deaths, "Resaca" - 77 cases, 19 deaths) and in an attempt to reduce the spread of the disease, departed north in April 1867, staying on quarantine in San Francisco. Both ships joined the U.S. North Pacific Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher and went to Sitka in August 1867 to take part in the formal transfer of Alaska to the United States. During the ceremony on October 18th, "Resaca" fired a salute at the raising of the U.S. flag in front of the governor's residence (Transfer of Russian America// Daily Illinois State Journal. November 15, 1867, p. 1). She left Sitka for San Francisco in January 1868 with Princess Maksutov, wife of the last governor of Russian America, on board (Distinguished Arrival// The San Francisco Examiner. January 28, 1868, p. 3). The manuscript journal is a comprehensive collection of instructions and assignments for "Resaca's" crew members during her first Pacific voyage. It consists of the following parts: Watch Bill (crew members' shifts on forecastle, fore top, main top, afterguard, &c., lists of "petty officers & idlers," "marines," "firemen & coal heavers," &c.); Quarter Bill (lists of crew members of the "First Division," "Second Division," "Third & Powder Division," "Fourth & Masters Division," "Boarders, Pikemen", &c.); Station Bill (assignments of sail operations: "loosing & furling," "reefing & hoisting," "tacking & wearing," "mooring & unmooring," "getting underway & anchoring," &c.); Fire Bill (instructions to all crew members in case of fire on board, lists of people assigned to pumps); Muster Bill (lists of Officers - including "Lieut. Commr. S.D. Ames," Petty Officers, Seamen, Ordinary Seamen, Landsmen, Boys, Firemen & Coal Heavers, and Marines); and Boat Bill (lists of crew and corresponding flags of "Resaca's" lifeboat, launch, four cutters, and "dingy," text of the "General Orders for Armed Boats"). Twenty pages of pencil-drawn tables and lists provide more details on the operations with sails, "Officers' stations," and launch and cutters' crews. Several notes in the Muster Bill mention desertions or hospitalizations of "Resaca's" seamen, landsmen and firemen in 1866 and 1867 - in Pernambuco, Rio, Montevideo,