Ten Pound Island Book Company

Old, Rare And Out of Print Books, Manuscripts And Charts Pertaining To The Sea

California Harbor, No. 15., American Brotherhood of Steamboat Pilots (Cover title).

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Item #47840
California Harbor, No. 15., American Brotherhood of Steamboat Pilots (Cover title).
Manuscript.

Pre-printed ledger pages, 30.5 cm. About 75 pp. manuscript entries with news clippings and ephemeral items tipped in.
Price: $350

Here’s a minor but interesting piece of maritime labor history. The American Brotherhood of Steamboat Pilots was formed in New York in 1887 as a sort of trade group. By 1889 it had expanded to the point where “Harbor” – (Chapter) – No. 15 was formed in San Francisco by W.T. Forsman. In 1891 the Brotherhood joined with the Steamship Sailors’ Protective Association to form a new and more powerful labor union of over 4000 members. The new entity was called the American Association of Masters and Pilots of Steam Vessels. This ledger, which has been repurposed as a scrapbook, documents the formation and progression of these groups, from local social clubs to a national union. It consists of printed documents signed in type by W.T. Foresman, launching California Harbor No. 15. These are backed up by contemporary news clippings, which trace the history, members, and some of the activities of this group. There’s a printed invitation to a social gathering in 1890, and printed invitations by F.J. Risedorf (Risedorf was Grand Captain of Harbor No. 1 in New York) to W.T. Forsman in California welcoming his group into the Brotherhood. Following this are two printed pages, datelined Greenpoint, NY, 1889, and addressed to members of the west coast pilots organizations, outlining the history, benefits, and operation of the American Brotherhood. More supporting news clippings and a long printed statement by Risedorf follow, continuing the history of the birth of the national Brotherhood. This is followed by a manuscript copy of a petition to Secretary Carlisle of the US Treasury supporting the nomination of Foreman as “Supervising Inspector of Steam Vessels for the First District.” The petition was signed by 25 state government officials and 142 pilots, whose offices and names are recorded here. After this section the ledger’s pages were employed as a 43-page manuscript log of steamer “San Joaquin No. 2,” July 23 – November 15 1894, as she moved vessels in various local ports between Sacramento and San Francisco. (“San Joaquin #2” made her mark in history by colliding with the lumber schooner “Lily” in 1886. “Lily would ultimately be rebuilt into a Hollywood version of the “Bounty,” for the 1936 movie version of “Mutiny on the Bounty.”) This compilation ends with a 4-page manuscript abstract log of the steamer “Red Bluff” and, finally, with two pages of manuscript expense accounts by W.T. Forsman, 1885 – 1896. The scrapbook is improvisational in form, with a piece of stiff cardboard taped on as back cover. Pre-printed page numbers run from 111 to 392, with vast gaps between, and a 2-inch chunk appears to have been rodent nibbled out of the upper left corner of the book – an unsightly defect, but with no loss of text or ephemeral inclusions.