This volume consists largely of William N. Ames's logbook entries for the 369-ton whaleship Martha, Master Joseph Wheldon, January 14-March 25, 1838 (14 pages and fragments of pages). The Martha departed Hudson, New York, heading for the Indian Ocean with stops at Gough Island and Madagascar. The remainder of the volume is pages or fragments of pages for the ship Alexander Mansfield, 1832, including the poem "The Yankey Privatear" (4 pages); one letter fragment; and pages of additional accounting and poetry (9 pages).
William Ames kept daily entries for the first three months of the Martha's voyage, documenting wind speed and direction, latitude and longitude, shipboard activities, and sightings of marine life. Multiple entries contain sightings of blackfish (pilot whales), finback whales, white whales, and birds. On single occasions, he mentioned seeing a dead whale, whales feeding, and porpoises. On March 6, 1838, he noted: "hard winds hard luck and No Whales is to hard Never mind we live in hopes of beter luck and more whales for the future."
The front pastedown bears six whale stamps, haphazardly applied (three tails and three bodies).
William N. Ames was born in Albany, New York, ca. 1811. He moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and became a sailor, serving aboard the ship Maria between 1828 and 1831, and aboard the Martha, 1838-1839.
Ames served aboard the 369-ton whale ship Martha, which departed Hudson, New York, in early 1838, to sail across the Atlantic and ultimately to the Indian Ocean. The captain was Joseph Wheldon. They returned to Hudson, New York, in 1839, with 150 barrels of sperm oil, 1,150 barrels of whale oil, and 13,000 pounds of whalebone.
