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- Reminiscences of an Ancient Mariner. by Captain John J. Giles
Reminiscences of an Ancient Mariner. by Captain John J. Giles
Manuscript.
Manuscript in pencil on 37 folio sheets of lined paper, about 7500 words.
Price: $900
John Giles, (1810-1891) first went to sea in the Rockport, MA fishing fleet at age 14, working his way up to captain. In 1849 he sailed for California, but found news from the gold fields to be discouraging. He signed on with a former whaling captain and made two runs to Hawaii for fruits and vegetables to sell at inflated California prices, but managed to come down with cholera in the San Francisco outbreak of 1850, which he graphically describes. After recovering, Giles returned home via the Isthmus and provides a detailed account of that experience. He rejoined the Rockport fishing fleet for a time and also invested in the merchant trade, making numerous runs to the Caribbean and South America and several Atlantic crossings. He provides accounts of St. Petersburg (where he claims he got to wear Alexander II’s crown), Surinam, New Orleans, and of yellow fever in Rio, before breaking off abruptly in Smyrna in 1876. Giles was a bone fide historical character, appearing twice in Marshall Swan’s history of Rockport. He invested in 80 tons of coal in 1838 which, “sold for $8 a ton but moved slowly for a full year.” Giles rates a second mention for having “one large schooner… the “Henry Hudson” in Sandy Bay. Old tape repairs to some pages, but legible throughout. Each page enclosed in a plastic sleeve. With a complete typed transcription.
