From the Deep of the Sea; Being a Diary of the Late Charles Edward Smith, M.R.C.S. Surgeon of the Whale-Ship Diana, of Hull
New York: Macmillan, 1923. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. x, [folding map], 357, [3] pages. Illustrations. Appendices. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Corners bumped. Some edge wear. Imperfection noted on paper covering the inside of the front board. Name of previous owner, William E. Davies, and date written on fep. This is believed to be William Edward Davies (1917 – 1990) was a notable American geologist and official of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). During World War II, at which time he was an officer with the Army Map Service. In the mid-1950s he took part in a USGS expedition to Antarctica. The Davies Escarpment in Antarctica was named for him. Diana was a whaling ship built in 1840, in Bremen, Germany. She sailed out of Hull, England. In 1858 a steam engine was installed, making her the first steam-powered whaler to sail from Hull (Tay from Dundee was the first ever, a year earlier). In 1866, while on a whaling expedition in Baffin Bay, Diana became frozen in the ice, where it was trapped for over six months. The ship's captain, 64-year-old John Gravill, and many of the crew died. The diary of the ship's doctor, Charles Edward Smith, was published in the book From the Deep of the Sea. There is a memorial fountain to Diana's return from the ice in the town of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands, as many of the crew originated from the islands and all the deceased except the captain were buried there. Charles Smith's services and heroism were recognized by the award of a set of surgical instruments from the Board of Trade. Captain Gravill's body was taken back to Hull, and his funeral was attended by an estimated fifteen thousand people. Diana was the last whaling ship from the port of Hull. Her loss, in 1869, ended the whaling industry of the city. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Whale-ship Diana, Whaling, Baffin Bay, John Gravill, William E. Davies, Hull, Ice-pack, Scurvy, Maritime, Disaster, Survival
[Book #83244]
Price: $250.00