- Creator
- Meyers, William H., 1815-
- Call number
- MssCol 1986
- Physical description
- 1 v. (36 tipped-in leaves), 32 ill. (watercolor drawings), 36 cm; 1 v. (36 tipped-in leaves), 32 ill. (watercolor drawings), 36 cm
- Preferred Citation
- William H. Meyers diary, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
- Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.
William H. Meyers (b. 1815), a native of Philadelphia, sailed on merchant vessels, worked at the U.S. Naval Laboratory in Washington, D.C., and served as a gunner in the U.S. Navy. Meyers' illustrated diary (17 Oct. 1838-4 Mar. 1839) records his voyages from: Philadelphia to Baltimore and Cuba (with visits to Xibara and Santiago de Cuba) on the schooner Ajax; Santiago de Cuba to Nassau, Bahamas, as master of the brig Lucy; and Nassau to New York as a passenger on the brig Victress, noting his later return to Philadelphia. The diary, which functions as a ship's log for the Lucy, includes accounts of his visit to a Cuban plantation and his illness from yellow fever, and poetic tributes to women encountered in his travels. Watercolor drawings (one in ink wash) illustrate ships at sea, localities visited, entertainments, shipboard activities and illness at sea.
Digital Assets
Administrative information
Source of acquisition
Gift of, Worthington C. Ford and Paul Leicester Ford as part of the Ford CollectionBibliography
Walton, Terry. "A Not-So-Ordinary Seaman : Intimate pages from the Diary of William H. Meyers, on board and ashore, 1838-39." Seaport : The magazine of South Street Seaport Museum (Summer 1979): 22-27
Key terms
Names
Subjects
Places
- Baltimore (Md.) -- Description and travel -- 19th century
- Cuba -- Description and travel -- 19th century
- Nassau (Bahamas) -- Description and travel -- 19th century
Occupations
Material types
Using the collection
Location
Manuscripts and Archives DivisionStephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Alternative form available
Available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-219
Illustrations also available as digital images