- Distressing Narrative of the Loss of the Ship Margaret of Salem.
Distressing Narrative of the Loss of the Ship Margaret of Salem.
Larcom, Henry.
(Salem Gazette?), ( (1810)), (Salem, MA?)
11.5 x 19 cm. 12 pp.
Price: $750
This rarity appears on our shelves lacking a title page, but is otherwise complete… Oh, wait!. It’s questionable that any copies were fully assembled and bound. Huntress, 164C, cites this title, but has no information on publisher or place of publication, suggesting either that he never saw it or that the copy he examined was similar to this one – lacking a title page. One of the book’s two listings on Worldcat cites Salem as the place of publication. The other says, “publisher not identified.” Tapley’s “Salem Imprints” doesn’t list it at all, and Shaw & Shoemaker 20520 gives the place of publication as Beverly, MA. This information is probably based on the fact that Larcom closes his narrative with “Beverly, Aug. 2, 1810.” Sabin 39021 provides the same publishing information, viz- “[Beverly, Aug 2, 1810].” At any rate, a rare bird of uncertain origin. “Margaret” sailed from Naples in April, 1810, with 31 passengers and a crew of 15. On May 20, she encountered a vicious squall and was thrown on her beam ends and wrecked, though she remained afloat. Fifteen men sailed from the wreck on one of the ship’s boats and were rescued about a week later. After two months of suffering and death aboard the drfting hulk, Larcom and four other men, fearing they’d drifted out of shipping lanes, left the wreck in a small boat. After 16 days they were rescued by the Gloucester schooner “General Johnson.” It is uncertain what became of the wreck of the “Margaret” and the passengers who remained aboard her. I can find no record of their rescue. However, Larcom is careful to name those who died or performed notably. The “General Johnson” was owned by Daniel Rogers, whose papers now reside in the Phillips Library at PEM, and if there is anything further to be learned about this incident it may be in that collection. This is a rare account. Worldcat shows only 5 libraries in the US holding copies. Untrimmed and stab sewn. Pages evenly tanned. A manuscript entry at the bottom of the final page reads, “Gift Miss Mary Wheelwright 31 August 1935.” Housed in a blue “flip flop” folder, cloth over boards, with gold spine lettering.