John Tyler Signs A Whaling Paper For A New Bedford Ship

JOHN TYLER (1790-1862). Tyler was the Tenth President.DS. 1pg. June 19, 1843. No place [Washington]. A partly printed, four language ships paper signed John Tyler as President and co-signed H.S. Legare as interim Secretary of State. The papers are for the Java, sailing from New Bedford, Massachusetts to the Indian Ocean. It was carrying provisions stores and Utensils for a Whaling voyage. The ship is listed in History of the American Whale Fishery, written by the appropriately named Alexander Starbuck, and the Java returned to New Bedford on April 3, 1845. The paper has the usual folds and a very large, dark signature that has a small pinhole because of fold intersections.