1831 · New York
by Paulding, Hira
New York, 1831. 258pp. plus folding frontispiece map. Modern three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, leather label. Map backed on linen and glued to front pastedown. Small portion of lower corner of p.141 torn away, affecting four lines of text. Lightly foxed. Good plus. A very scarce and important Pacific narrative, this is the account of the voyage of the Dolphin, a United States Navy schooner, which set out from Peru in August 1825 in search of the crew of the whale ship Globe, which had mutinied in the Pacific the previous year. During their search the ship visited the Galapagos Islands, the Marquesas, and the Gilberts before finding two survivors of the mutiny, William Lay and Cyrus Hussey, on the Mulgraves (now known as Milli Atoll), the rest of the crew having been murdered aboard ship, escaped to South America, or killed by natives. Paulding, the first officer of the Dolphin, recounts the details of his bold rescue of Lay and Hussey from the natives, and he describes the bloody mutiny. The Dolphin then sailed on to Hawaii, becoming the first American naval vessel to enter Honolulu harbor. They stayed there four months, and Paulding includes a description of the natives and their leaders, the activities of missionaries and European entrepreneurs, and Honolulu and its surroundings. The frontispiece is a map of the Mulgrave Islands. HILL 1319. HOWES P131, "aa." SABIN 59186. AMERICAN IMPRINTS 8637. FORBES 795. CARTER, p.139. FORSTER 80. JUDD & LIND 142. HUNTRESS 247C
(Inventory #: WRCAM51486)