Stockell, William:

$5,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE EVENTFUL NARRATIVE OF CAPT. WILLIAM STOCKELL, COMPRISING AN AUTHENTIC AND FAITHFUL DETAIL OF HIS TRAVELS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: OF HIS VARIOUS AND SIGNAL ENGAGEMENTS...AND OF HIS ADVENTURES AND ... A rare work by an American seaman who spent the first two decades of the 19th century serving in the American and British naval and maritime services. Stockell's narrative (which was "revised and corrected for the press" by Dr. Edwin A. Atlee) carries him across the globe, from Jamaica to Scotland, Malta, Quebec, Matanzas, Havana, New York, Montreal, Bombay, Brazil, Botany Bay, Madagascar, Calcutta, Malacca, China, Mozambique, the Greenland seas, and the West Indies. His adventures contain numerous accounts of the pursuit and capture of pirates, including a French privateer. Of particular note is his tale of a competition between two vessels for a whale. Whaling was of great interest to Stockell, and he provides a missive on the art of harpooning, with details on the proper positioning of the attacking ship. In total, over seventy pages of the work are devoted to Stockell's whaling experiences. The many plates depict various dramatic scenes, including a whaling scene and his "rescue" by a crew of dead men. All told, a wonderful narrative of life on the high seas. Not in Jenkins or Smith.

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