MELCHER, George.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Original manuscript ship's journal, predominantly for the Bostonian trading ship the Avon. A substantial manuscript journal documenting Pacific commercial voyaging from 1815 to 1819, kept by George Melcher (1797-1877) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who began as purser on the Boston brig Avon and later served on the Ida and True American. The journal provides logbook entries at sea and fuller observational notes in port, tracing Melcher's movements from Australia and Hawaii to the north-west coast of America, Chile, Guangzhou, and Europe.Its core interest lies in the extensive record of three Hawaiian calls during a volatile phase in the islands' opening to foreign trade. Melcher's entries for the Avon's first visit (August-September 1816) reflect a busy harbour and the ship's sudden diversion to Sitka, a consequence of Captain Whittemore's unrecorded but consequential sale of the Avon to the Russian-American Company in the midst of the Schaffer Affair. The repudiation of the deal in Sitka pushed the ship into opportunistic coastal trading and smuggling, corroborated by Melcher's notes on handling seal skins and the evident readiness for whaling.On the second Hawaiian visit (May-June 1817) Melcher offers vivid observations of chiefs, taboos, rivalries, Russian-Hawaiian tensions, and the sandalwood trade at its height. He records Kaumualiʻi's presence on board, extensive barter, ceremonial salutes, and the social strains - drunken chiefs, rum trading, and strict taboos temporari

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.