Collection of Material Documenting the Activities of Lieutenant John – “Mad Jack” – Percival, the Mutiny on the Whale Ship Globe, Samuel Comstock the Mutineer, and Merchant Captain Alfred Edwards. 1824 – 1828.

Item #43819
Collection of Material Documenting the Activities of Lieutenant John – “Mad Jack” – Percival, the Mutiny on the Whale Ship Globe, Samuel Comstock the Mutineer, and Merchant Captain Alfred Edwards. 1824 – 1828.
Manuscript.

Price: $37500

This remarkable archive consists of the following: 1-page ALs from Isaac Hull, in Callao, to Percival, containing instruction for Dolphin’s Pacific cruise, November 11, 1824. – 1-page ALs from Percival, at “Woahoo” (Oahu) to Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard advising Southard that he’d drawn down $1000 for expenses of the Dolphin’s cruise. May 8th, 1826. – 11-page manuscript document on folio sheets, in Lt. Percival’s hand, signed by him, reporting on his mission aboard U.S. Schooner Dolphin, to rescue the survivors of the Globe mutiny, written to his superior, Isaac Hull. About 3000 words. Valparaiso, 25th July, 1826. – 13-page manuscript by Alfred Edwards, apparently in his hand, and signed by him, detailing his account of the transgressions committed by Percival in the course of assisting Edwards after the wreck of his ship the London off “Ranai” (Lanai), Hawaii. About 3200 words. Dated Boston, Febry 5th, 1827. – 1-page ALs from Southard to Baltimore lawyer John S. Barney, esq., about taking depositions pertaining to the incident between Percival and Alfred Edwards, also mentioning missionary Jeremiah Evarts. Text in a secretarial hand, signed by Southard. 5 Dec. 1827. – Lay, William and Cyrus M. Hussey. “A Narrative of the Mutiny on Board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 1824. and the Journal of a Residence of Two Years on the Mulgrave Islands.” New London: Wm. Lay and C.M. Hussey, 1828. 12mo., 168 pp. Bound in period mottled calf, which is cracked and chipped. Housed in chemise and slipcase. – Paulding, Hiram. “Journal of a Cruise of the United States Schooner Dolphin…in Pursuit of the Mutineers of the Whale Ship Globe.” NY: G.&C.&H. Carvil, 12mo., 1831. Folding b/w map as frontispiece. 258 pp. Bound in publisher’s cloth. Lean to spine, front hinge cracked but holding. – “House of Representatives No. 86, 22d Congress, 2d Session.” n.p. (GPO) 1833. 8vo., 8 pp. Government Document which reports on Percival’s petition to Congress to reimburse him for out-of-pocket expenses he incurred during his cruise in search of the Globe mutineers. With supporting statements, including one from Hull, and list of expenses. February 9, 1833. – (Comstock, William.) “Life of Samuel Comstock, the Bloody Mutineer.” Boston, N.H. Blanchard, 1845. 8vo, 36 pp. b/w frontispiece engraving. Bound in half crimson morocco over boards. Front hinge cracked but holding. – 2-page TLs, from Capt. John Heffernan, Director, Naval Records and Library, stating that “A thorough search of the manuscript records of this office has failed to uncover the original report (or copy) of Lt. John Percival’s cruise in the U.S.S. Dolphin… in search of the mutineers of the ship GLOBE.” March 24, 1948 – 1-page TLs from the owner of this archive to Walter Muir Whitehill, editor of “The American Neptune,” regarding publication of Percival’s report in that publication. Sept. 29, 1948. – 1-page TLs from Whitehill, stating that the manuscript report had never been published and expressing a desire to publish it in “The American Neptune.” 18 October 1948. (Percival’s report was never published in that journal or anywhere else). In 1824 the Nantucket whale ship Globe was cruising off the Fanning Islands, about 900 miles south of Hawaii, when Samuel Comstock, a 22-year-old harpooner, fomented the bloodiest mutiny in American maritime history. He enlisted a gang of mutineers from the crew, several of whom had just been recruited in the Hawaiian Islands and, on December 22, 1824, brutally murdered Captain Worth and three other officers, plus a crewman. Soon after this bloody night, the Black cook, who’d fallen in with the mutineers, was accused by Comstock of plotting to take the ship; a kangaroo court of the mutineers tried him and, finding him guilty, hanged him. On February 14, 1825, the mutineers brought Globe to Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. There, Comstock planned to create his own kingdom in the manner of the Bounty mutineers. However, his co-conspirators suspected that Comstock intended to destroy Globe and kill the rest of them. Four of the mutineers shot and killed Comstock. They then sent one of the innocent crewmen to secure and mind the Globe. He and five other crew cut the anchor cable and set sail, eventually arriving at Valparaiso, Chile, where they were brought into custody. Eventually, the Globe was repaired, fitted out and returned to Nantucket with 372 barrels of sperm oil still intact. Meanwhile, the Mili Islanders murdered the rest of the mutineers, who had mistreated them, sparing only two young men whom they kept as something between slaves and pets. When word of this reached America, powerful whaling interests of Nantucket and New Bedford (the “big oil” of their day) demanded that the American government redress the wrongs committed by the mutineers, and bring them to justice. The mission, which ultimately went to Lt. John Percival, was also to show the flag in the Pacific and ensure the security of American trading interests in the area. Accordingly, the Dolphin arrived at Valparaiso, Chile in February 1822, and cruised the western coast of South America to protect American commerce and the whaling industry. Then, in the interval between August 1825 and August 1826, Percival and his crew searched for the Globe mutineers, eventually returning to Callao with the two surviving members of the mutiny who had been held on Mili Atoll. During this cruise she visited Hawaii – the first American naval vessel to appear there – and assisted the American ship London which had wrecked on a reef wrecked off Lanai. Percival and his crew also had troubled interactions with American missionaries in Hawaii. In particular, when the Dolphin first landed at Hawaii, a tabu promulgated by the missionaries prohibited Hawaiian women from visiting the ship. Deprived of female companionship, the sailors rioted, and chased missionary Hiram Bingham back to his home. Percival severely punished the rioters, but the damage had been done, and the missionaries strongly disapproved of Percival’s bluff manner and rough manner of speech. This factor becomes important when considering the complaint by Edwards against Percival. In his own defense, Percival claimed Edwards was attempting to steal the commission that should rightly have been paid on the specie and bullion salvaged from the ship London. Edwards took mortal offense at Percival’s actions, and set out to destroy him, launching lawsuits and official investigations. In this matter, his interests aligned with those of the missionaries, who assisted Edwards in his case against Percival. Though Percival was nominally judged “not guilty,” Edwards’s efforts had a damaging effect on his reputation and career. In this context, the December 5, 1827 letter from Southard to the lawyer in Baltimore ties the two strands in this archive together, as it mentions the complaints against Percival by the American Board of Missionaries, and their representative Jeremiah Evarts, along with the complaint made by Edwards. The most significant aspect of this archive is the fact that Percival’s report appears to be the only copy extant. Furthermore, a search of the complete run of the “American Neptune” and the online catalog known as “Worldcat” shows that Percival’s report was never published. The collection is also unique in its continuity – the way Percival’s narrative brings Edwards into the picture, even though the two accounts present very different views of Percival’s interactions with Edwards. Finally, the four printed books highlight the most important aspects of the case – William Comstock’s “biography” is an early attempt to explain his brother’s madness; Lay and Hussey give their own view of the mutiny and of their captivity on Mili Atoll; Paulding’s book presents events from the naval point of view, and the Congressional document presents details of Percival’s conduct not available elsewhere.

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