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A private journal kept by me... of a voyage to... the West Indies to New York and Cape Ann, 1865 Feb. 21-1889 Feb. 23, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
Purchase, 2009
Processed by: Alice Poffinberger, July 2010
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, July 2010
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This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Thomas C. McCollom was a resident of Cambridge, Mass., b. May 9, 1847.
Collection comprises the journal (104 pgs.) McCollom maintained daily while voyaging to and from the West Indies, Feb 21-May 18, 1865, when he was between the ages of 17 and 18. The ship was the schooner D. L. Sturgis; with five crew members and its captain, Daniel Deasy. It appears McCollom undertook the journey for the improvement of his health, and the majority of his entries detailed the depression, homesickness, and boredom he experienced during the trip, "I can't tell why but I feel homesick and blue. I have such days now quite often though not so often as formerly. I shan't be sorry to get home I know. I don't know what to do with myself when I feel so. I find that writing home or in this journal is about as good a cure as anything. I feel better to express my feeling somehow if only to write them down here (pp. 25-26)." McCollom also described crew members' activities (including one man's drowning after an accident, p. 5), the weather and wind patterns, the difficulties of the Atlantic Ocean crossing and vagaries of the Caribbean Sea, and any birds and animals seen. He also identified any ships encountered, usually with their nationality, destination, and any cargo being transported.
Other common topics included his attitudes regarding race and the inhabitants of each island; activity on the wharf and ship while in port, especially sales and purchases made; his excursions on each island, particularly for church services; and his growing participation as part of the crew, by writing up of invoices and bills, noting the loading of cargo, and eventually assisting with sails and repair of the ship. McCollom also mentioned his desire to hear about the end of the Civil War, and recorded his opinions about ships sailing under the Rebel flag (p. 59), Lincoln's death (p. 91), and the capture of Jefferson Davis (p. 97). The main ports the ship visited included "Kinston" (Kingston), Jamaica; Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island; and "Rattan" Island, Honduras. Other areas visited or mentioned at length included Port Royal, Jamaica; Utila Island; and New York City, where McCollom considered the highlights of his trip to be touring Central Park and listening to a sermon by Henry Ward Beecher. The item's final entry, dated Feb. 23, 1889, contained McCollom's comment after rediscovering the journal twenty-four years after the voyage.
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