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NAUTICAL-RELATED COLLECTIONS
This list gives the collection name, date range and number of items in a collection followed by a very brief description of the contents of the collection. All of these collections are related to nautical topics.
ART MSS.- Of particular interest is an undated pen and ink drawing entitled, "The Twin Steamship Calais [Doune?] crossing Channel-Personally Conducted" by Joseph Pennell.
- DATE RANGE: 1581-1667
- ITEM COUNT: 177 items
- Papers of Martin de Bertendona, admiral in the Spanish Armada. The papers deal with the "Invincible Armada" of 1588, the capture of the "Revenge" in 1591, the contribution of the Basques to Spain's sea power and the rebuilding of the Armada after the 1588 defeat.
- DATE RANGE: 1852-1862
- ITEM COUNT: 21 items
- Letters written by A. Jackson Best, bricklayer, plasterer, California miner and farmer to his wife, Ann Best, and family in Ohio. Some of the letters deal with working at the U.S. Navy Yard at Mare Island, California.
- DATE RANGE: 1790-1949
- ITEM COUNT: 249 items
- Western Americana material collected by Robert Spurrier Ellison. Of particular interest is the 1790-1792 journal of the voyage of the brigantine "Hope" from Boston to the Northwest coast of America.
- ITEM COUNT: 9 items
- Consist of materials from the library of Bert R. Fenn related to the Howard Shipyards and Dock Company of Jeffersonville, Indiana. Included are photographs of Captain James Howard and of boats at the yards.
- DATE RANGE: 1906-1976
- ITEM COUNT: ca. 7,000 items
- Correspondence, papers, and memorabilia of film director John Ford. Ford formed the Naval Field Photographic Reserve in early 1940. He spent the war years doing documentary work in the Pacific, North Africa, Europe and India. Included in the collection are some naval materials. In 1945 Ford made They Were Expendable, a film about PT boats in the Pacific during WWII. Included in the collection are some notes about the film and PT boat maneuvers.
- DATE RANGE: 1857-1872
- ITEM COUNT: 968 items
- Papers of Thomas Gaff, merchant, banker and manufacturer of Aurora, Indiana. Some papers relate to flatboat and steamboat shipments down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the steamboat, the "Forest Queen."
- DATE RANGE: 1811-1813
- ITEM COUNT: 58 items
- Duplicates of orders and letters to the commanders-in-chief at the Cape of Good Hope, Rear Admiral Robert Stopford and Rear Admiral Charles Tyler. Most of the documents were signed by Sir John Barrow, secretary of the admiralty.
- DATE RANGE: 1812 and 1938-1952
- ITEM COUNT: 17 items
- Of interest is a letter of marque and reprisal granted by King George III to Thomas Hocquard, in command of "the ship called the AEOLUS...therewith by force of arms to seize and take the ships and vessels and goods belonging to the United States of America...."
- DATE RANGE: 1917-1960
- ITEM COUNT: 15,133 items
- Collection of photographs and other papers of Frank Michael Hohenberger, photographer and newspaperman. Included in the collection are many images of boats and bodies of water.
- ITEM COUNT: 100 items
- Copies made in the 1980s of photographs of riverboats built by the Howard Shipyard & Dock Company at Jeffersonville, Indiana. The copies were made from photographs located at the Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
- DATE RANGE: 1989-1990
- ITEM COUNT: 20 items
- Transcriptions of oral history interviews relating the history of the Howard family and of the Howard Ship Yards in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
- DATE RANGE: 1834-1942
- ITEM COUNT: 266,739 items
- Papers of the Howard Ship Yards & Dock Co., builders of steamboats, barges, towboats, etc. Includes correspondence, financial records, ledgers, blueprints, plans, specifications, estimates, legal material, daybooks, drawings, and photographs.
- DATE RANGE: 1814-1825
- ITEM COUNT: 17 items
- The journal of the Atlantic cruise of the U.S. Frigate Constitution, by A.Y. Humphreys, -1826, chaplain and purser of the U.S. Navy
- Of interest is a copy of a journal dated Mar. 15-June 1, 1853--Apr. 4-May 23, 1854 of a flatboat trip from Mt. Pleasant, Indiana to New Orleans, Louisiana.
- DATE RANGE: 1836-1875
- ITEM COUNT: 50 items
- Papers of Joseph J. Kirkman, farmer, businessman, sheriff of Gibson County, Indiana. Included are papers relating to the flatboat trade.
- Of interest are some reports of voyages: Pascual de Iriarte's Relacion Diaria Del Viaje Maritimo, y descubrimiento de las costas del sur... was written from September 21, 1675 to March 7, 1676. Also the Diario de la Navegacion de la Fragata del Rei Santa Maria de la Cabeza del mando del Capitan de Navio Don Antonio de Cordova al Reconocimiento del Estrecho de Magallanes...by Dionisio Alcala Galiano, written from September 1, 1785 to June 11, 1786, and containing maps of the Strait of Magellan.
- Of interest is a record of the discoveries and settlements of the Spaniards in the New World, along with the Canary Islands and the Moluccas is found in a manuscript beginning "El orbe todo tiene Trecientos y sesenta y cinco Grados de longitud..., probably written about 1550.
- Of interest are the following items:
- Jan. 24, 1587: Passport granting safe conduct to St. John of Lisbon, Portuguese ship, sailing to Brazil for a cargo of sugar, wood, etc.
- Nov. 16, 1652-Sept. 20, 1653: "Naval affairs, & the Dutch war in K. Charles ye 2d's reign..." written by Sir John Lawson.
- Aug. 15, 1683: Letter from Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch to Charles II, King of Britain. Concerns recovering sunken treasure off the coast of Hispaniola, George Churchill who commanded the frigate "Falcon" and piracy.
- 1794. Navigational profiles-sailing directions from the Isle of Wight to the Anamba Islands...written by John Cottrell, naval officer.
- Sept. 6, 1803: Letter from Horatio Nelson, deals with desertion of seamen and marines.
- Dec. 24, 1812-Apr. 17, 1818: Volume of copies or drafts of letters from and to the ship brokers, McNeill & Co.
- Jan. 1-Dec. 28, 1816: Account book of a merchant who lists costs of various voyages to Jamaica, Hamburg and Lisbon.
- Oct. 7, 1820-June 12, 1821: Log of Proceedings on board the "Albion" of London.
- Apr. 21, 1866: Certificate of the arrival and departure of the "Barca" Louisa Cook.
- DATE RANGE: 1969-1997
- ITEM COUNT: 28 items
- Primarily notes and full-text manuscripts of author Patrick O'Brian's historical sea novels. Autograph manuscripts for eighteen of the twenty published novels are present.
- DATE RANGE: 1979-1993
- ITEM COUNT: 77 items
- Primarily letters from Irish sea novelist Patrick O'Brian, 1914- , to his longtime friend and former editor at Collins & Sons, Richard Lawrence Ollard, 1923- . Of particular interst are O.Brian.s correspondence with naval historian Eric Grove and notes and jacket blurbs for five of O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels.
- Of interest is a log dated Nov. 1, 1757-Nov. 11, 1758, Acaecimientos desde el Dia primero de Nobienbre de el ano de 1757.... which describes several voyages in the South China Sea.
- Of interest:
- June 24, 1614 letter written by Diego Brochero de la Paz y Anaya which gives recommendations concerning ship-building.
- Jan. 20, 1719: Letter from Lopo Jose de Almeida to Francisco Xavier de Menezes Ericeira which reports action taken against an Arab ship, and asks for confirmation of his post as "General da Armada."
- Of interest:
- Oct. 23, 1522: Epitstola De Insulis Moluccis written by a royal official. This is an account of the circumnavigation of the globe by Magellan and Juan Sebastian del Cano.
- Aug. 30, 1633: Letter from Felipe IV, king of Spain to Lopo de Sequeira Pereira in which the king discusses methods of increasing revenues to defend the maritime commerce of Portugal, then under the crown of Spain.
- Jan. 23, 1776: A document giving information about the Spanish army and navy.
- 1816-1820: Affairs of the second and third voyages of the frigate Resolucion.
- Feb. 25, 1818: Freight list of the Spanish frigate Nuestra Senora de los Dolores.
- Of interest:
- June 1, 1715-May 16, 1721: Log of the ship "Elizabeth" and account record.
- July 12, 1777: Letter from John Paul Jones which announces that he is to take command of the "Ranger."
- May 13, 1791: Instructions from Alexander Hamilton, U.S. secretary of treasury on methods of determining duties on ship cargoes. 1800?. Diary of a journey up the Sioto river from Chillicothe, Ohio to the Mad River.
- Aug. 23, 1804: Wage agreement between the Master and seamen of the schooner "Salley" bound from Boston to Surinan.
- Jan. 27, 1812: Letter from President John Adams to Benjamin Rush in which he agrees with Rush that the ocean ought to be and must be the theater of the war.
- July 1815: Dimensions of the masts yards & spars of a 74 gun ship of the United States.
- May 4, 1830-Jan. 12, 1831: Journal of a cruise on board the U.S.S. Guerriere written by Commander Charles C.B. Thompson.
- June 4, 1841-Aug. 30, 1845: Remarks on board the ship "Addison" of New Bedford, Massachusetts, on a whaling voyage.
- Apr. 10, 1844- Jan. 29, 1846/Apr. 13, 1847- Sept. 19, 1848: Log of the whaling braque "Sarah" and log of the brig "Vesta;" bound together.
- May 17, 1848-Apr. 29, 1852: Journal of a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean in the ship "Archer."
- Oct. 1, 1862-Nov. 12, 1865: Pocket diary of Charles Brother aboard Admiral Farragut's flagship, the U.S. sloop "Hartford."
- Feb. 17, 1863: License issued to the steamer "Swan" to be employed in the coasting trade for one year.
- Dec. 8, 1941-Feb. 28, 1942: A report on the U.S.S. Houston from December 8, 1941 until she was reported missing Feb. 28, 1942.
- An undated typed transcript of "From Cairo to New Orleans: A Pilot's Experience on the gunboat fleet, April 1862-July 4, 1863.
- DATE RANGE: 1776-1879
- ITEM COUNT: 3,181 items
- Correspondence, log books, legal documents, diaries and other documents concerned with the period before, during and after the War of 1812. There is a great deal of material pertaining to naval affairs, material is arranged chronologically. Contact the Manuscripts Department for further information.
- DATE RANGE: 1738-1869
- ITEM COUNT: 7,203 items
- Papers of Jonathan Williams, merchant and soldier and first superintendent of West Point. There are many letters and documents, plans and drawings of fortifications, coast defenses and harbors of the Eastern United States.