William H. Meyers diary - NYPL Digital Collections

Click to visit the main New York Public Library Homepage

The New York Public Library

Digital Collections

About Digital Collections

Search Browse About

Items Collections Divisions

Digital Collections Using Images Using Data

William H. Meyers diary

About Filters

Collection Data

Description: William H. Meyers (b. 1815), a native of Philadelphia, sailed on merchant vessels, worked at the U.S. Naval Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and served as a gunner in the U.S. Navy. Meyers' illustrated diary (17 Oct. 1838-4 Mar. 1839) records his voyages from: Philadelphia to Baltimore and Cuba (with visits to Xibara and Santiago de Cuba) on the schooner Ajax; Santiago de Cuba to Nassau, Bahamas, as master of the brig Lucy; and Nassau to New York as a passenger on the brig Victress, noting his later return to Philadelphia. The diary, which functions as a ship's log for the Lucy, includes accounts of his visit to a Cuban plantation and his illness from yellow fever, and poetic tributes to women encountered in his travels. Watercolor drawings (one in ink wash) illustrate ships at sea, localities visited, entertainments, shipboard activities and illness at sea.
Names: Meyers, William H., b. 1815 (Creator)
Dates / Origin: Date Created: 1838 - 1839
Library locations: Manuscripts and Archives Division; Shelf locator: MssCol 1986
Topics: Meyers, William H., b. 1815; Ajax (Schooner); Cuba -- Description and travel -- 19th century; Nassau (Bahamas) -- Description and travel -- 19th century; Baltimore (Md.) -- Description and travel -- 19th century; Yellow fever
Genres: Diaries; Drawings; Paintings
Physical Description: Extent: 1 v. (36 tipped-in leaves) : 32 ill. (watercolor drawings) ; 36 cm.; Watercolors
Type of Resource: Text; Still image
Identifiers: NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b16044202; MSS Unit ID: 1986; Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): a8de0270-c6cc-012f-4b78-3c075448cc4b

33 results found