Place of Publication: Winter Harbour, Melville Island, Parry Islands, North West Territories, Canada
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: No. 1-21; Nov 1, 1819 to March 20, 1820.
Size and Format: Unknown
Editor/Publisher: Edward Sabine, Captain of the Ship Hecla.
Title Changes and Continuation:
General Description and Notes:
“Written, produced and circulated in Mss., by members of the Parry expedition while they were at their winter quarters in the Arctic, and published, in printed form, after the expedition’s return to London under the title: North Georgia Gazette, and Winter Chronicle.
“When the expedition arrived in the Arctic, Parry called the group of islands he discovered the “New Georgia Islands,” but having afterwards remembered that this name was already used in another part of the world he decided to change it to “North Georgian Islands” to honor George the Third. This change accounts for the variation in name as used in the title on the manuscript copy and that used on the published editions.”
Information Sources:
Bibliography: None
Locations: Rare Book & Special Collections Library, University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
The Wild Goose: A Collection of Ocean Waifs (AUS, 1867)
Publication History:
Place of Publication: Shipboard the Hougoumont, the last ship to transport convicts from England to Fremantle, Australia
Frequency: Seven issues of the newspaper were produced, each issue carefully laid out and decorated by hand. Only one copy of each issue was made, which was then read to the convicts aloud.
Editor/Publisher: Irish “Fenian prisoners:” John Flood, John Boyle O’Reilly and John Casey
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
The Wild Goose was, according to a Wikipedia article, a
“handwritten newspaper created in late 1867 by Fenian prisoners aboard the Hougoumont, the last ship to transport convicts to Australia.
“Seven issues of the newspaper were produced, each issue carefully laid out and decorated by hand. Only one copy of each issue was made, which was then read to the convicts aloud. The aim was to provide entertainment and encouragement aboard the ship during its long and arduous voyage to Fremantle. The title refers to the Wild Geese: the Irish soldiers who had left to serve in continental European armies since the 16th century.
“The major contributors were John Flood, John Boyle O’Reilly and John Casey.
The documents provide a fascinating insight into life aboard ship. The documents contain songs, stories, articles, advice, poems, and even comedy. In addition to the diaries of Denis Cashman and the journals of John Casey and Thomas McCarthy Fennell, the journey of the Hougoumont was well recorded.
“One passage describes Australia and its history with more than a little sarcasm:
“This great continent of the south, having been discovered by some Dutch skipper and his crew, somewhere between the 1st and 9th centuries of the Christian era, was, in consequence taken possession of by the government of Great Britain, in accordance with that just and equitable maxim, “What’s yours is mine; what’s mine is my own.” That magnanimous government in the kindly exuberance of their feelings, have placed a large portion of that immense tract of country called Australia at our disposal. Generously defraying all expenses incurred on our way to it, and providing retreats for us there to secure us from the inclemency of the seasons…
“All seven issues survive, and were passed on by John Flood’s granddaughter to the Mitchell Library in 1967. The papers are bound into one book and are now part of the State Library of New South Wales collection.”John Boyle O’Reilly penned several poems for the paper, including The Flying Dutchman and The Old School Clock.
“On 9 September 2005, a memorial was unveiled at Rockingham beach to commemorate the Catalpa rescue. The memorial is a large statue of six Wild Geese.”
“The Fenian movement, or Irish Republican Brotherhood, was a secret society that flourished during the 1860s. Its activities included an armed rebellion against British rule in Ireland, which failed for a number of reasons. In 1865 hundreds of men were arrested in Ireland on suspicion of complicity. There were two elements amongst the men charged and convicted: those who were civilians, and those who were currently serving in the British military services. The civilian element were treated as political prisoners, whilst the military element were treated as ordinary criminals. In 1869 the civilian element were granted clemency and freed, whilst such consideration was denied the military element (Erickson pp.115-156).
“John Boyle O’Reilly [emphasis added] was an NCO in the 10th Hussars (the prestigious regiment of the Prince of Wales) when arrested in 1866 for assisting fellow soldiers to join the rebellious Fenian movement. Found guilty at his court martial, his death sentence was commuted to one of 20 year’s penal servitude which automatically meant transportation (anyone sentenced to seven years or more was transported).
“He sailed, along with 280 other convicts — 62 of them Fenians — on board the Hougoumont from Portland in October 1867. They arrived at Fremantle in January 1868, the last convicts to be sent to Western Australia. Their arrival also signalled the end of the convict era in Australia.”
Locations: Wikipedia: “All seven issues survive, and were passed on by John Flood’s granddaughter to the Mitchell Library in 1967. The papers are bound into one book and are now part of the State Library of New South Wales collection.”
Place of Publication: Aboard the British troop ship HMS Sussex from Kingstown, England to Kurrachee, India (now Karachi, Pakistan?)
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: September-December 1866
Size and Format: 426 pages
Editor/Publisher: T.S. Bigge, Captain, and authors A. Lot and A. Nicols
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
This is a 426-page handwritten newspaper, published from September-December, 1866 on board the British troop ship Sussex during her maiden voyage from Kingstown, England to Kurrachee, India.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: None
Locations: Woodson Research Center, MS231 (in bound volume), Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, woodson@rice.edu
Place of Publication: Shipboard Duxbury en route to California gold fields from Boston
Frequency: Weekly
Volume and Issue Data: “Issued on The Duxbury throughout the spring of 1849” (Lewis)
Size and Format: Unknown
Editor/Publisher: Unknown
Title Changes and Continuation: Possibly continued by The Petrel, after departure from Rio De Janeiro
General Description and Notes:
The Shark seems to be the first handwritten newspaper aboard the Duxbury. Extant copies of The Petrel, published on the Duxbury apparently during the same voyage, were possibly published after the ship’s layover at Rio, although the issue numbering suggests that both papers may have been published contemporaneously.
According to Lewis, the Duxbury left Boston for the California gold fields in February, 1849, carrying the Old Harvard Company, one of the hundreds of New England joint-stock companies organized to capitalize on the gold of California. One writer states that during 1849, 102 joint stock companies sailed from Massachusetts alone, the number of their members ranging from five to 180, the average being around 50, and their total exceeding 4,200. Each member paid an equal sum into the common treasury. Each had an equal voice in its management and stood to reap an equal share of the profits. Often there was also a board of directors, chosen from among the town’s leaders, older men who helped finance the expeditions, but who remained at home. (Lewis, p. 22).
One passenger observed that there was “too much praying on board.” Each morning the Duxbury’s preacher, the Rev. Brierly, read a chapter from the Bible, offered a prayer, and delivered a brief sermon. On Wednesdays he presided over a prayer meeting; on Sundays he preached “a full-length sermon” and followed this with a class discussion group; on Tuesdays and Fridays he conducted a lyceum. This was during the early stages of the voyage; later this comprehensive program collapsed, as it did on so many other ships, and during the final weeks of the Duxbury’s company seems to have been without religious instruction of any kind.
Hard feelings developed between officers and passengers aboard the Duxbury on the first leg of its voyage. The chief complaint was against the food and the manner of service. The Duxbury, an ancient three-masted craft, so hard to maneuver that she was said to require all of Massachusetts Bay in which to turn, left Boston so loaded that the galley space was inadequate. After a week of subsisting on two sparse meals a day, the passengers met and made known their grievances. For a long time their protests were disregarded. “Petition after petition was sent in to the captain without producing any other effect than the reply, ‘If it is not enough, go without.'” The group continued on short rations–“we were allowed one-half pint of weak tea a day and three pounds of sugar a month’–until the Duxbury reached Rio. There a committee of passengers related their troubles to the United States Consul. The result was that the capacity of the galley was ordered enlarged and the passengers thereafter fared rather better.
Lewis notes that this and other shipboard newspapers (see, e.g., Barometer, The Emigrant, and The Petrel) “lacked the formality of print but more nearly approached conventional journalism” than the various travel journals and diaries kept during the voyages.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Oscar Lewis, Sea Routes to the Gold Fields: The Migration by Water to California in 1849-1852 (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1949), pp. 22-29, 89-92
Locations: Four numbers at the Huntington Library, Manuscripts Division, San Marino, CA; accompanies the published Journal of the Duxbury Voyage, Boston-San Francisco, by William H. DeCosta, 1849, Feb.-June 23 (HM 234)
Place of Publication: “On board Ship Duxbury,” clipper out of Boston en route to the California gold fields)
Frequency: Weekly; irregular; “published every Monday morning”
Volume and Issue Data: Vol. 1, No. 1, March 26, 1849; Vol. 1, No. 2, April 2, 1849; Vol. 1, Nos. 3-7 and 9, no dates; Vol. 1, No. 8, lead article dated June 10, 1849; Vol. 1, No. 10, no date, but article on “Celebration of American Independence.” The third number has no title or volume-number. The term “petrel” apparently refers to various sea birds.
Size and Format: 8 x 10 in.; oil cloth-like paper; two columns; pen and ink; illustrated; 2-4 pp., variable
Editor/Publisher: Unknown (“Smike, Jr.”?)
Title Changes and Continuation: Continuation or contemporary of Shark (See Shark) published aboard the Duxbury on same voyage
General Description and Notes:
The Petrel was published onboard the Duxbury apparently during the same voyage as produced the Shark. The issue numbering suggests that both papers may have been published contemporaneously.
The Duxbury left Boston for the California gold fields in February, 1849 carrying the Old Harvard Company, one of the hundreds of New England joint-stock companies organized to capitalize on the gold of California. One writer states that during 1849, 102 joint stock companies sailed from Massachusetts alone, the number of their members ranging from five to 180, the average being around 50, and their total exceeding 4,200. Each member paid an equal sum into the common treasury. Each had an equal voice in tis management and stood to reap an equal share of the profits. Often there was also a board of directors, chosen from among the town’s leaders, older men who helped finance the expeditions but themselves remained at home. (Lewis, p. 22).
The first issue, published March 26, 1849, contained the following introduction:
“Ourselves.” We appear before our readers to-day, for the first time, with our weekly budget of fun, fact, and fancy, for the particular edification our amusement of the passengers on board of the Ship Duxbury now on her voyage from Boston to San Francisco. We shall continue its publication as often as circumstances will admit, and should be pleased to receive well written communications upon any subject that may be thought interesting to the “crowd.” All communications must be handed in as early as Friday morning.–Smike, Jr.
One passenger observed that there was “too much praying on board.” Each morning the Duxbury’s preacher, the Rev. Brierly, read a chapter from the Bible, offered a prayer, and delivered a brief sermon. On Wednesdays he presided over a prayer meeting; on Sundays he preached “a full-length sermon” and followed this with a class discussion group; on Tuesdays and Fridays he conducted a lyceum. This was during the early stages of the voyage; later this comprehensive program collapsed, as it did on so many other ships, and during the final weeks of the Duxbury’s company seems to have been without religious instruction of any kind.
Hard feelings developed between officers and passengers aboard the Duxbury on the first leg of its voyage. The chief complaint was against the food and the manner of service. The Duxbury, an ancient three-masted craft, so hard to maneuver that she was said to require all of Massachusetts Bay in which to turn, left Boston so loaded that the galley space was inadequate. After a week of subsisting on two sparse meals a day, the passengers met and made known their grievances. For a long time their protests were disregarded. “Petition after petition was sent in to the captain without producing any other effect than the reply, ‘If it is not enough, go without.'” The group continued on short rations–“we were allowed one-half pint of weak tea a day and three pounds of sugar a month’–until the Duxbury reached Rio. There a committee of passengers related their troubles to the United States consul. The result was that the capacity of the galley was ordered enlarged and the passengers thereafter fared rather better.
Lewis notes that this and other shipboard newspapers (see, e.g., Barometer, The Emigrant, and The Petrel) “lacked the formality of print but more nearly approached conventional journalism” than the various travel journals and diaries kept during the voyages.
Greever reports that Easterners frequently chose to go to California via ship around Cape Horn. “Between December 14, 1848, and January 18, 1849 [probably about the time the Duxbury embarked on its voyage], sixty-one ships with an average of fifty passengers each sailed for California from New York City, Boston, Salem, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. In the month of February, 1849, . . . seventy [ships sailed] from Boston . . . .” (pp. 21-22)
“The trip around from the East Coast around the Horn and up to San Francisco often took more than six months; the average time was 168 days” (p. 23)
“If Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the Fourth of July occurred during the trip, there would be quite a celebration” (p. 22).
The two highlights of the journey around South America were stops in Rio and at Juan Ferdnandez island. The Petrel recorded the pleasures of shore leave and even illustrated the events in later issues (see The Petrel figures).
Captain DeCosta also imitated newspapers of the day with an entry that read: “By telegraph–We have, says a New York paper, just received intelligence from a California-bound vessel, stating that they have a very rare animal on board, which was caught crossing the line . . . .” While the story was a hoax, the joke could only have worked if the passengers were familiar with the “telegraph news” system of the day, and took the practice of ship-borne intelligence for granted.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: See Oscar Lewis, Sea Routes to the Gold Fields: The Migration by Water to Californiain 1849-1852 (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1949), p. 89. See also G.B. Worden letter to Ira Brown: Rio de Janeiro, ALS 1849 April 23, University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Manuscript Collection, Mss C-B 547:138; and William S. Greever, Bonanza West: The Story of Western Mining Rushes, 1848-1900 (University of Idaho Press, 1963), pp. 21-23
Locations: Eleven numbers: Huntington Library, Manuscripts Division, San Marino, California; accompanying the journal of the Duxbury voyage, Boston-San Francisco, by William H. DeCosta, 1849, Feb.-June 23 (HM 234); 10 numbers: University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Manuscript Collection, Mss C-F 147; three numbers: (no dates, circa Feb.-July, 1849) Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Place of Publication: Aboard the ship Norwood on its journey from England to Western Australia with convicts, April 27 (date of first issue) to July 6, 1867
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: “Introduction” issue, April 27, 1867
Size and Format: See image of the front page of April 27, 1867
Editor/Publisher: Unknown
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
Convict shipboard paper en route from England to Western Australia. Irwin’s published account includes it as “Norwoodiana, or, Sayings and doings on route to Western Australia : a manuscript journal made during the 1867 voyage of the convict ship Norwood, April 27 to July 6, 1867.
Place of Publication: On board H.M.S. Resolute, Captain Horatio T. Austin, C.B., in search of the expedition under Sir John Franklin looking for the “Northwest Passage”
Frequency: Five issues; frequency unknown
Volume and Issue Data: October 1850-March 1851
Size and Format: 44.5 x 27 cm.; printed facsimile is folio, 12 x 19 inches, 57 pp
Editor/Publisher: Sherard Osborn and George F. McDougall?
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
Illustrated Arctic News (printed) (AK, 1850-1851)
Printed and published after the H.M.S. Resolute expedition returned home, from the five numbers originally issued in manuscript, October 1850-March 1851, on shipboard during the wintering of the H.M.S. Resolute in Barrow Strait.
The H.M.S. Terror, captained by Sir Franklin (and its companion ship, the H.M.S. Erebus), which the Resolute’s crew and other expeditions searched for over a period of 11 years, was finally found at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean above the Arctic Circle in September 2016, according the The Guardian (Sept. 12, 2016). The H.M.S. Terror was located 168 years after it went missing off King William Island in eastern Queen Maud Gulf in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in Nunavut, Canada (see map below). The H.M.S. Erebus had been found several years earlier just to the south of where the Terror was later located.
Map: The H.M.S. Resolute wintered on the Barrow Strait in search of the Sir Franklin expedition. The H.M.S. Terror and its companion ship the H.M.S. Erebus were found, more than 160 years after they went missing, off King William Island in Queen Maud Gulf.
The H.M.S. Resolute, on which these handwritten newspapers were produced, became famous in politics and popular culture long after its retirement. Wood from the ship was later made into two desks, one of which the English crown gave as a gift to the United States President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. That desk still sits today in the Oval Office of the White House. That desk was also featured (as was its origin from the H.M.S. Resolute) in the popular film, National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), starring Nicholas Cage.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Sherard Osborn and George F. McDougall, eds., Facsimile of the Illustrated Arctic News, Published on Board H.M.S. Resolute, Captain Horatio T. Austin, C.B., In Search of the Expedition Under Sir John Franklin (London: Ackerman, 1852)
Place of Publication: Shipboard Mary Catherine, out of Sydney en route to California (1851)
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: No. 1, May 31, 1851
Size and Format: Unknown
Editor/Publisher: “Some of the women passengers aboard”
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
The Flying Fish was published by women passengers aboard the ship Mary Catherine out of Sydney, Australia, en route to the gold fields of California. The only known issue was dated May 31, 1851. The captain of the ship recorded in his log that to pass the time, some of the women passengers began writing a shipboard newspaper and published it on the day of the captain’s 32nd birdthday. He described it as “a little journal of fun and merriment.”
Two things are noteworthy about the Flying Fish. First, it is the only known shipboard paper produced exclusively by women. No doubt other shipboard papers had women contributors and scribes, but this is the only one, according to the sole remain independent documentary evidence from the voyage, founded, edited, and produced exclusively by women at sea.
Second, the fact that the captain consider the publication of the Flying Fish nothing more than something “to pass the time,” suggests that it was primarily a literary and humorous publication. The fact that Australia had been a British penal colony since its first settlements in 1788 may also indicate that the women were less than well educated or well read. The passengers on board the ship who were seeking their fortunes in California gold likely included former convicts, men and women. In such a context, the women’s journalistic and literary skills were probably not of a high caliber.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Captain Henry Thomas Fox, Log of Mary Catherine, in possession of Mrs. F.G. Marginson, Hamilton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, cited in Charles Bateson, Gold Fleet for California: Forty Niners from Australia and New Zealand (Auckland: Minerva Ltd., 1963), pp. 47, 136, 138; Roy Atwood, “Shipboard News: Nineteenth Century Handwritten Periodicals at Sea,” Paper Presentation to the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 1997.
Place of Publication: “Editor’s office, Starboard Front Cabin, ‘Thames City,'” en route from Gravesend, England to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Frequency: Weekly (“read aloud each Saturday night, the day of publication, by the commanding officer, Capt. H.R. Luard, R.E.”)
Volume and Issue Data: 17 numbers issued: No. 1, Nov. 6, 1858 to No. 17, April 2, 1859; not published during three week layover at Falkland Islands
Size and Format: 10.75 x 18 inches; pre-printed title/masthead; pen and ink
Editor/Publisher: Second Corporal Charles Sinnett, R.E., assisted by Lt. H.S. Palmer, R.E.
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description & Notes:
Contains a news section, natural history of the voyage, correspondence, conundrums, naval and military intelligence, songs, poetry, jokes, advertisements, foreign intelligence and market intelligence.
The Emigrant Soldiers Gazette and Cape Horn Chronicle was published originally in manuscript form on board the ship “Thames City,” which sailed from Gravesend, England, on October 10, 1858 and reached Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British Columbia on April 12, 1859. Aboard the ship was a detachment of Royal Engineers selected for service in B.C.
The paper was edited by Second Corporal Charles Sinnett, R.E., and assisted by Lt. H.S. Palmer, R.E. Each Saturday night, the day of publication, the paper was read aloud by the ship’s commanding officer, Captain H.R. Luard, R.E.
The first issue explained that as one of the ways to avoid monotony and “keep a merry heart,”
[A] thoughtful friend on shore, whose name should be held in honour among us, has provided us with the means of establishing a small Newspaper, to be kept up by our own contributions. Let us set about it with good will and heartiness. Some little amusement and instruction will be sure to follow. Any trifling matter recorded now will be a pleasure to refer to hereafter as a memorial of the peaceful and happy days of our voyage.
The first issue also published a notice “To Correspondents,” as a guide to contributors:
1. In future, contributions of Leading Articles on any subject are requested to send them in to the Editor by noon every Thursday, and all other contributions should be sent in by 8 o’clock the same evening, to give ample time for publishing the paper.
2. Any person willing to answer letter addressed “To the Editor,” are invited to do so, addressing their answers in the same manner.
3. The answers to Charades and Conundrums will be published the Saturday after they appear, and any person guessing an answer, may learn on application to the Editor or Sub-Editor if he is right or wrong. But is hoped correct guessers will keep their secret.
The paper maintained a regular front page news section and other regular sections, such as “Natural History of the Voyage,” “Correspondence,” “Conundrums,” “Naval and Military Intelligence,” “Songs and Poetry,” “Jokes,” “Foreign Intelligence,” “Market Intelligence,” and “Advertisements.”
The printed edition of the paper included a map detailing the ship’s route and marking its locations on the dates of publication.
After the arrival of the Thames City at New Westminster, B.C., the men aboard the ship paid to have the paper printed as a souvenir of their voyage. The “British Columbian” newspaper in New Westminster printed the paper from the manuscript originals.
In Volume One–”To the correspondents 1. In the future, contributors of Lending Articles on any subject are requested to send them in to the editor by noon every Thursday, and al other contributions should be sent in by eight o’clock the same evening, to give ample time for publishing the paper. 2. Any person willing to answer letters addressed “To the Editor,” are invited to do so, addressing their answers in the same manner. 3. The answers to the Charades and Conundrums will be published the Saturday after they appear, and any person guessing an answer may learn on application to the Editor or Sub-Editor if he is right or wrong. But it is hoped correct guessers will keep their secret.”
Preface to the published collection: [Printed by R. Wolfenden, 1907]
“The ESGCHC was published originally in manuscript form, on board the ship “Thomas City,” which was sailed from Gravesend on the 10th of October, 1858, and reached Esquimalt, V. I. on the 12th April, 1859, having on board a Detachment of Royal Engineers selected for service in B.C. The paper was edited by Second-Corporal, Charles Sinnett, R.G., assisted by Lt. H. S. Palmer, R.G. and was read aloud each Saturday night, the day of publication, by the commanding officer, Captain H.R. Luard, R.G. After the arrival of the Detachment of the camp, New Westminster, it was thought advisable to have this most interesting journal printed for distribution amongst the members of the Detachment. This was done, at the men’s expense, at the office of the “British Columbia,” New Westminster, by the late John Robson.
From No. 1 [11/6/58]–p.1 “As one means towards this desired end [to avoid monotony and keep a merry heart], a thoughtful friend on shore, whose name should be held in honour among us, has provided us with a means of establishing a small Newspaper, to be kept up by our own contributors Let us set about it with good will and heartiness. Some little amusement and instruction will be sure to follow. Any trifling matter recorded now will be a pleasure to refer to hereafter as a memorial of the peaceful and happy days of our voyage.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Emigrant Soldiers Gazette and Cape Horn Chronicle (Printed by R. Wolfenden, 1907); Roy Atwood, “Shipboard News: Nineteenth Century Handwritten Periodicals at Sea,” Paper Presentation to the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 1997; Reprint, New York Public Library.
Locations: British Columbia Archives and Records Services, Victoria, British Columbia; (printed edition) The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California; New York Public Library, New York.
Place of Publication: Shipboard Alhambra en route to California gold fields (1849)
Frequency: Weekly; irregular
Volume and Issue Data: The Alhambra departed New Orleans in the fall, 1849; only four numbers issued; known dates: No. 3, Sept. 5; No. 4, Sept. 20, 1849
Size and Format: “Two sheets of foolscap, closely written out in full”
Editor/Publisher: “Mr. Moss”
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description & Notes:
The Emigrant was published aboard the Alhambra, a ship which embarked for California from New Orleans in the fall of 1849. The ship’s paper was supposed to be published weekly during the voyage, but lasted only four numbers.
The Ship Alhambra
The Alhambra’s master, Captain George Coffin, filled more than half of each issue with his own compositions of rhyme and verse. In his privately printed memoirs, Captain Coffin noted, “On Saturday, August 23rd, appeared the first number of ‘The Emigrant.’ It consisted of two sheets of foolscap closely written out in full by Mr. Moss.”
Coffin claimed the paper “was well received, the reading matter was various, to please all tastes, and the croakers were silenced.” He also claims audience response was so enthusiastic that when the second installment was ready on August 30, measures had to be taken to preserve order among the passengers. “So great was the desire to get hold of it that it was voted that one of the passengers should read it aloud to the rest.” A freshly minted medical school graduate, Dr. Clark, was selected to read the poem. Captain Coffin noted the doctor “placed himself on the capstan, and the rest of the company gathered round, some standing, others seated about on spare spars, water casks, or whatever else they could find.” The Captain-author, however, found that his work was not read with proper fire and feeling. This lack of force and ability, according to Coffin, explained why the young doctor had no doubt failed in his chosen profession.
The Emigrant’s third issue, published Sept. 5, 1849, featured another of Captain Coffin’s poems, “Simon Spriggin’s Soliloquy.” The issue also contained an advertisement:
WANTED: A few degrees of south latitude. Any person being able to furnish them shall be installed an honorary member of the Committee on Navigation. Apply at the Surgeon’s office.
The Committee on Navigation was the title ironically given a group of the Alhambra’s passengers who were in the habit of offering the ship’s officers unsolicited advice on how to improve the operation of the vessel.
The Alhambra’s newspaper struggled through one more issue, then died. Captain Coffin noted its passing: “From this time ‘The Emigrant’ languished for want of sustenance; it did not appear the next Saturday. It made one more effort on Saturday, September 20th, and then gave up the ghost. The editorial valedictory had some reference to ‘casting pearls before swine . . .'” (p. 50). Simon Spriggins bowed himself out with a final poem, the inspirational character of which may be gathered from this stanza:
“Your saddle bags shall yet be filled
With Sacramento’s glittering ore.
Your doubts and fears shall all be still’d
And troubles come not near you more.” (p. 51)
Lewis notes that The Emigrant and other shipboard newspapers (see, e.g., BAROMETER, THE PETREL, and SHARK) “lacked the formality of print but more nearly approached conventional journalism” than the various travel journals and diaries kept during the voyages.
According to Captain Coffin’s accounts published after the voyage, (41) On Saturday, August 23, appeared the first number of “The Emigrant.” It consisted of two sheets of foolscap closely written out in fully by Mister Moss (Mr. Sam Moss, Jr. “ super Cargo) [p.12].
(43) The first number of “The Emigrant” was well received, the reading matter was various, and the croakers were silenced.
(45) Saturday, August 30–The second number of “The Emigrant” appeared promptly by this morning. So great was the desire to get hold of it, that it was voted that one of the passengers should read it aloud to the rest. The selected Doctor Clark as the reader. . . . He placed himself on the capstan, and the rest of the company gathered round, some standing, others seated about on spare spars, water casks, or whatever else they could find.
(49) September 6–The third number of “the Emigrant” appeared this day
Information Sources:
Bibliography: George Coffin, A Pioneer Voyage to California and Round the World, 1849-1852, Ship Alhambra (Chicago: privately printed, 1908); Oscar Lewis, Sea Routes to the Gold Fields: The Migration by Water to California in 1849-1852 (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1949), pp. 89-92; Roy Atwood, “Shipboard News: Nineteenth Century Handwritten Periodicals at Sea,” Paper Presentation to the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 1997.
Place of Publication: Shipboard, aboard the Queen of the South, sailing from England to Australia
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: Two issues and the beginnings of a third. The first issue is dated 15 April 1854.
Size and Format: Unknown (see image)
Editor/Publisher: Charles Lyall (d. 1910?)
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
Charivari (Eng-Aus, 1854)
From the State Library of Victoria website: “Shipboard newspaper, written in the style of Punch (the London Charivari) , on board the Queen of the South on a voyage from England to Australia in 1854. Includes a description of the ship’s brief stopover at St. Vincent in the Windward Islands.”
Information Sources:
Bibliography: None?
Locations: State Library of Victoria, accession no(s) MS 12221; MS 9100; accessible, but microfilm (MS 9100, MSM 39) issued instead of the original.
Place of Publication: Aboard the ship Belgravia on its journey from England to Fremantle, Western Australia, with convicts, 28 April 1866-23 June, 1866
Frequency: Unknown
Volume and Issue Data: 1866
Size and Format: See image of the front page of No. 2, May 5, 1866
Editor/Publisher: Unknown
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description and Notes:
Convict shipboard paper en route from England to Western Australia.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: William Irvin, Journals on board the convict ships Palmerston, 1861, Belgravia, 28th Apr. 1866-23rd June, 1866 and Norwood, 27th Apr.-6th July, 1867 [microform], reproduction of typescript.
Place of Publication: Shipboard Edward Everett (1849)
Frequency: Weekly, every Saturday
Volume and Issue Data: The Edward Everett departed Boston Jan. 13, 1849
Size and Format: Four pages, handwritten
Editor/Publisher: “A board of five editors was responsible for the journal” (Lewis); members of the Boston and California Joint Mining and Trading Company en route to the California gold fields
Title Changes and Continuation: None
General Description & Notes:
According to Lewis, the first organized contingent to leave Boston for the California gold fields was the Boston and California Joint Mining and Trading Company. The group sailed from Boston aboard the Edward Everett, a 700-ton “fast-ship,” on January 13, 1849. The company of 150 men, included eight sea captains, four doctors, a clergyman, a mineralogist, a geologist, merchants, manufacturers, farmers, artisans and medical and divinity students.
The Edward Everett was a relatively new ship (approximately six years old) and well equipped. The bunks below deck were named after Boston localities. To combat boredom at sea, numerous regularly scheduled activities were organized, including a musical band, a weekly newspaper, Sunday and mid-week church services, and lectures.
The ship’s newspaper Barometer was intended to circulate the ship’s news among the passengers and the crew, and to publish “original contributions in prose and verse.” Lewis calls the Barometer, “probably the earliest of the gold-ship ‘newspapers'” (p. 89). According to Lewis, the Barometer was
a four-page hand-written sheet issued every Saturday during the voyage of the Edward Everett. A board of five editors was responsible for the journal, the columns of which were filled with daily happenings on the ship, together with a record of her position and speed, and a leavening of lighter fare in the form of “original prose and poetical matter.”
Lewis notes that this and other shipboard newspapers (see, e.g., EMIGRANT, THE PETREL, and SHARK) “lacked the formality of print but more nearly approached conventional journalism” than the various travel journals and diaries kept during the voyages.
Information Sources:
Bibliography: Oscar Lewis, Sea Routes to the Gold Fields: The Migration by Water to California in 1849-1852 (New York: A.A. Knopf, 1949), pp. 89-92; Roy Atwood, “Shipboard News: Nineteenth Century Handwritten Periodicals at Sea,” Paper Presentation to the History Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention, Chicago, IL, 1997.
Gazette-Extr., Philadelphia, 1846; attributed to Herman Melville; courtesy of Prof. Roger Stritmatter, Dept. of Humanities, Coppin State University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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The Handwritten Newspapers Project 
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