Handwritten letter from "Mary E." to "Annie" detailing her disastrous voyage from New York to San Francisco, May 20 to (June 28), 1865 starting with the wheelhouse of her ship being hit by a "Jersey steamer" and barely ten days later the ship ran aground on a reef and had to be abandoned
San Francisco, CA, July 30, 1865. Paperback. Very Good. Item #22-6473
8 x 5", four pages (90 lines). Broken at the folds, minor holes (silked), small tears. Handwriting is legible. Comes with a typed transcription. "We then proceeded on our voyage without any accident until the morning of the thirtieth when the steamer ran on a reef of rocks called the Ranaadon Keys…We had to…go on deck the ship rolling so that we could not stand without holding on". The crew made rafts out of whatever they could find, passengers and crew were lowered onto the rafts to spend the night. A "small, uninhabited and desolate island" was located where they stayed for ten days till help arrived. Living in tents made from the ship's sails, with only the clothes on their backs and existing on rations consisting of cakes of hard bread. Only names are "Mary E." and "Annie" with no last names and no name of the ship or route. There were various routes from New York to San Francisco that covered the 13,000 mile route, anywhere from 43 days to 4-6 months. The fastest and most popular route was New York to Chagres/Panama City then across the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco. Was that her route? But, she left New York and May 20 and arrived on June 28? This makes 40 days including being shipwrecked. Fascinating and detailed first person account.
Price: $750.00