The Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives holds an ever-growing collection of seventy-three logs and journals covering several dozen voyages in over sixty-six different ships. The earliest is dated 1751 and the latest 1935, but the majority of the voyages took place during the nineteenth-century.

A ship’s logbook is a legally admissible document that may be introduced in a court of law (normally an Admiralty court) as evidence of a ship’s navigational position, condition, and maneuvers. A journal is an informal document, but very often in the same format as a log, so it is difficult to distinguish between official and informal documents.

The format of the navigational data in most of the logs and journals is very uniform, especially considering that they span over 150 years. Logs were generally kept by the vessel’s captain or first mate and included daily observations of navigational positions, weather conditions, vessel sightings, and ports visited.

Logbooks are invaluable sources of information for researchers: climate scientists are able to reconstruct historical weather data and track changes in the earth’s climate, historians can find archaic terms and spellings, and art historians can track down details of a commission made abroad.

It has been noted that there is perhaps more firsthand information on seafaring than any other profession in American history. Keeping detailed logbooks was an essential part of the job, and mariners would meticulously document all aspects of their voyages.

The pages within these logbooks not only contain records of precise dates, coordinates, and cargo quantities, but also vibrant illustrations, entertaining stories, and charming works of poetry. It is within this wealth of narrative information that we can begin to understand these adventures in the vast expanse of the sea and what crew members did to pass the time.

The Ship Iris was a whaling vessel that sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and throughout the Indian Ocean. This log, kept by Peleg S. White, records various sightings, chases, and killings of several types of whales, black fish, and porpoises.

These entries are accompanied by many small sketches of whales in the margins. When a whale escaped, it was recorded in the log with a sketch of the flukes as they appear when a whale is sounding (diving straight down).

Whaling was a dangerous business with a great number of occupational hazards, one of the most common being death by drowning. On this page, Peleg S. White dedicates an entry to a twenty-four-year-old crew member who was lost overboard in the middle of the night.

White includes an excerpt of “A Funeral Hymn for a Believer” by Charles Wesley (1707-1788): “His languishing head is at rest, / Its Thinking and Aching are o'er; / His quiet immoveable breast, / Is heav'd by affliction no more. / His heart is no longer the seat / Of sickness and torturing pain; / It ceases to flutter and beat, / It never shall flutter again.”

Collecting botanical specimen seems to have been a common activity for idle crew members, and this page documents said pastime in the form of leaf rubbings. The author gathered many different species of leaves, including red rose, tiger lily, lilac, and catnip.

This logbook was kept by Charles A. Homans, the second mate aboard the Bark Izette. The vessel sailed from Boston to Suriname on two voyages in between the years 1848-1849.

Suriname was a former Dutch colony, and the final pages of the logbook contain lists of Sranantongo-English vocabulary. Sranantongo (Surinamese Creole) is the lingua franca of Suriname which derives most of its vocabulary from English and Dutch. Homans shows an interest in learning common words, such as “watra” for “water” and “datra” for “doctor.”

This is the final page of the logbook of the Brig Maine and the Schooner Josephine. The author is unknown, but the neatly transcribed lines of sheet music reveal an affinity for music. It remains unclear whether this piece is an original work by the author or a copy of another song.

This log, kept by William Presson, Jr., documents voyages aboard multiple vessels: the Brig Fox, the Brig Aurora, the Schooner Adams, and the Schooner Caroline. During the April 1826 voyage from Gloucester to Sumatra aboard the Brig Fox, Presson recorded prominent lunar stars, including Regulus, Spica, and Antares.

The entry continues with an excerpt from the ballad “The Rape of the Trap” by William Shenstone (1714-1763): “’Twas in a land of learning / The Muses favorite city / Such pranks of late / Were play’d by a rat. / As tempt one to be witty. / All in a college study / Where books were in great plenty / This rat would devour / More sense in an hour / Than I could write in twenty.”

This log was likely kept by John C. Dixey, the first officer aboard the Barque Rouble. The front page in which the name of the vessel is written four different times exemplifies the author’s beautiful penmanship. This lovely lettering can be observed several more times throughout the volume.

Some seafarers had impressive artistic talent. This logbook documents voyages aboard the Brig Cadet, mastered and kept by Edward Babson. The vessel made numerous trips from Gloucester and Boston to Suriname, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires.

On these pages are two vibrant color illustrations. The left features an eagle, holding an olive branch and arrows, with the words “INDEPENDENCE” written above. The right is a detailed drawing of the Brig Cadet, complete with miniature depictions of crew members.