A Journal of a Whaling Voyage on Board Ship Dauphin, of Nantucket, Composed by Charles Murphey, 3d Mate, on the Voyage. by Murphey, Charles - 1877

Mattapoisett, MA: Atlantic Publishing Company, 1877. 39 pp. 14 b/w cover and title page engravings.

This work is notable for its recounting of the rescue of survivors from the whaleship Essex (which had been sunk by a whale) and for its unusual form. The cover title is Thrilling Whaling Voyage Journal... in Poetry and indeed the entire account is given in rhymed quatrains. Dauphin, Captain Zimri Coffin, sailed on 4 Sept. 1820, returning in July 1823. Voyage included Galapagos and Hawaiian Islands (1822) Poem recounts the finding of boat from the Essex with two survivors aboard. An officer list also provided. - Forster. At least two editions of this work exist, but copies in the original pictorial wrappers are scarce. The wood engraved cover illustration depicts a whaleboat being upset by a whale. See Forbes 3193 who mentions that the poem records visits to Lahaina and Honolulu. Forster 71. Jenkins p. 129. A somewhat rough copy of an uncommon whaling book in its original illustrated wraps. Unfortunately some shark has taken a chunk out of the front wrapper, with loss of two words. Or maybe it was one of the starving survivors of the whaleship Essex. Text is clean.