Victor (Bark) log book, 1855-1856

Summary

Creator:

Anonymous

Abstract:

The logbook of the Barque Victor documents the vessel's merchant voyages from Havana, Cuba, to Hamburg; Newcastle/Shields, England; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; New Orleans, Louisiana; and finally Boston, Massachusetts, between June 1855 and September 1856. The writer, possibly the currently unidentified First Mate, maintained a typical hourly or bi-hourly ship's log while at sea. He also kept an observant record of labor, ship repair and preparations, and other activities while on shore. His phonetic spellings, his accounts of dry dock repairs at Hamburg, the death of Captain James H. Goodmanson from yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro, the contested appointment of F. H. Carson as captain, managing shipboard violence and an unruly cook, and a severe injury endured by Capt. Carson are particularly notable.

Extent:

Approximately 120 pages (1 volume)

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Cheney J. Schopieray, December 2024

Background

Scope and Content:

The logbook of the Barque Victor documents the vessel's mercantile voyages from Havana, Cuba, to Hamburg; Newcastle/Shields, England; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; New Orleans, Louisiana; and finally Boston, Massachusetts, between June 1855 and September 1856. The writer, possibly the currently unidentified First Mate, maintained a typical hourly or bi-hourly ship's log while sea. He also kept an observant record of labor, ship repair and preparations, and other activities while on shore. His phonetic spellings, his accounts of dry dock repairs at Hamburg, the death of Captain James H. Goodmanson from yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro, the contested appointment of F. H. Carson as captain, managing shipboard violence and an unruly cook, and a severe injury endured by Capt. Carson are particularly notable.

The lined blank book used for the log includes a seller's plate on the front pastedown: "B. MAY y Ca. / encuadernados se de libros en blanco, / venden toda clase de efectos / de escritorio é imprimen todo lo / concerniente al comercio. / Calle de la Obra-pia N. 6, HAVANA".

Shore log, June 9, 1855-July 8, 1855; Havana, Cuba:

Over the course of this month, the log keeper made daily entries on the weather, work being done on the ship, and the moving of cargo. He noted changing numbers of carpenters and sailors at work (including himself) on the rigging and "about the ship." They cleaned the hold and loaded up with sugar and rum. The grueling nature of the work prompted him to add a comment on June 23, "Employed tacking in Cargo With 4 sea man Employed is masery [i.e. misery]."

Sea log, July 9, 1855-August 29, 1855; between Havana and Hamburg:

After setting sail on July 9th, the writer began a formal sea log. The daily entries were recorded in tabular columns to notate the hour of the day (every two hours), knots and half-knots for speed, the brig's course, the direction of the winds, and general remarks. Most of these remarks relate to weather, sea conditions, handling of sails, and latitude. Some challenging weather aside, the ship made time to their arrival at Hamburg without much recorded difficulty.

Shore log, August 29, 1855-October 17, 1855; Hamburg:

Once again focused on daily labor, the log keeper documented the unloading of the cargo, the move of the ship to drydock for repairs (including the hire of a coppersmith to fix a bilge), and the usual caulking, black varnishing, carpentry, and sail work. The crew's term of employment was up on September 24th and the writer hired seven sailors. Their names are present in the manuscript. They loaded the ship with ballast.

Sea log, October 18, 1855-October 29, 1855; between Hamburg and Newcastle/Shield's Harbor, England:

The formal tabular log documented the voyage.

Shore log, October 29, 1855-November 27, 1855; Newcastle/Shield's Harbor, England:

The Victor settled at Shield's Harbor to conduct more repairs. A corsair moved them to a ballast wharf to discharge the ballast. The sailors loaded up coal and provisions and prepared to set sail to Brazil.

Sea log, November 28, 1855-January 20, 1856; between Newcastle and Rio de Janeiro.

The formal tabular log began again. The transatlantic journey included multiple run-ins between the log keeper (again, likely the First Mate) and the ship cook. On December 9th, for example he wrote, "Whilst trying to make the Cook do my Ordres, he drew a knife against me to Kill me, and had to take my self-defence." Near the end of the month, he added, "Found the Cook not fit to do his duties were he shipped for, also to dirty" (December 29, 1855). On January 20, 1856, the Victor arrived at Rio de Janeiro, laying up and anchoring near Fort Santa Cruz.

Shore log, January 20, 1856-April 23, 1856; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:

The writer shifted again to daily paragraph descriptions of the weather and activities undertaken by the crew. They scrubbed the ship, addressed needed repairs to the rigging, unloaded 4,475 baskets and 4,618 barrels of coal (about 645 English Tons), cleaned the decks, swashed out the storerooms, brought on board 25 tons of ballast, painted, and otherwise prepared to take goods on board. During the unloading process, several men took ill and their work was filled in by men from shore (including two Black men).

Meanwhile, Capt. James H. Goodmanson took ill and entered the hospital on February 17th. He died nine days later, on the 26th. The American Consul at Rio de Janeiro (Robert G. Scott) appointed F. H. Carson master of the Victor, which was not readily accepted by the crew. On March 3, 1856, the log keeper wrote, "...all the crew came aft and demand to go to the Counsul and get there discharge, swearing that they should do no more duty on board untill they see the Counsul. They went ashore all, came back in the afternoon. Capt: Carson went ashore after that. Consul had no time that day, had to go the day following."

William Seward, the cook, refused to work the galley; he was apparently replaced as a new cook, Richard Scott, filled in until his discharge on April 21st. Apart from an instance of insubordination by Julius, the cabin boy, who became "disobedient & sauci" on March 6th, labor continued. The men black varnished the ship and spent considerable time on the sails and yards. A number of the crew became sick "with pains over the body" but with "ships medicine" improved. Ultimately, they loaded up 2,000 sticks, 1,000 pieces of wood, lard, 700 hats, and more for dunnage. They brought aboard bags of coffee, 2,180 of them from Rally & Co. The Captain employed 12 Black men and three "Coats" to help the crew load.

Sea Log, April 24, 1856-June 20, 1856; between Rio de Janeiro and somewhere northwest of Havana en route to New Orleans:

The tabular logbook entries resumed. Only two weeks into the journey, on May 7th, the cabin boy was below deck getting potatoes when Capt. Carson fell down a scuttle leading to the storeroom and severely injured his torso. Over the next two days his pain increased, and he feared that "he had broken something inside." Fearing "revenge," the cabin boy stayed far away from the captain; the log keeper crossed out the word "revenge" in pencil and wrote the word "punishment" over it. Despite periodic feelings of improvement, by June 1st the Captain still could not come up on deck. The log ends abruptly on June 20, 1856, before reaching their destination of New Orleans.

Sea Log, August 5, 1856-August 28, 1856; between New Orleans and Boston:

The tabular log picks up somewhere at sea, with Capt. Carson back in full command of the ship. The log keeper's notes, however, reveal increasing tensions aboard the Victor. On August 16th, he wrote that the crew refused to work, one of them telling the Captain that he "would rip his guts out if he did not mind another told him to kiss his ass." A few days later, bright and early at 5:00 a.m. on August 20th, one of the men got into a fight with the cook because he refused to give him coffee. The Captain was summoned and he said it was on his order the coffee wasn't given by the cook. The sailor then called the Captain a "damed old son of bitch said he might stick his orders up his ass." When taken aft and hung in irons, several of his crewmates refused to work until he was released.

Shore Log, August 28, 1856-September 3, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts:

The final brief entries reflect the initial efforts of unloading.

Biographical / Historical:

According to the Boston Evening Transcript (August 28, 1856, page 2), the Bark Victor was a Portsmouth vessel.

Ship captain James H. Goodmanson married Priscilla A. Brady on November 24, 1839, in Baltimore County. The 1850 U.S. Census places James and Priscilla at home in Baltimore, Ward 7, with two sons, John J. Goodmanson (ca. 1841- ) and Peter Goodmanson (ca. 1843- ), and a 14-year-old woman, Kesiah Sherdon. In 1855, J. H. Goodmanson worked as Captain of the Bark Victor, transporting sugar and rum from Havana, Cuba, to Hamburg; ballast from Hamburg to Newcastle/Shields, England; coal from England to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. James H. Goodmanson died from yellow fever in Rio de Janeiro on February 26, 1856.

Acquisition Information:

2024. M-8347 .

Arrangement:

The collection is a single bound volume.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Bibliography

James H. Goodmanson and Priscilla A. Brady, Maryland, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1655-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Ballast (Ships)
Cabin boys.
Cargo handling.
Coal.
Coffee.
Cooks.
Discipline.
Lumber.
Masts and rigging.
Merchant ships--History--19th century.
Rum.
Sailors.
Sails.
Ship captains--Maryland.
Ships--Maintenance and repair.
Ships--Officers.
Sugar.
Violence.

Formats:

Ships' logs.

Places:

Boston (Mass.)
Hamburg (Germany)
Havana (Cuba)
Newcastle upon Tyne (England)
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)