Building Plans for Barque Fawn
Blueprints for the design of Barque Fawn, the whaling ship that Thomas Waters Jr. apprenticed on in 1840. A former Navy ship, it was modified from this Cormorant class 16-gun…
Official Report – Wreck of Crown of Italy (1892)
The official report of the wreck of Crown of Italy, and Frank’s comments in his log on the court report and his role. See also P. 726 of the By…
Stranding of Crown of Austria (1892)
Captain T.J. Greenbank (the only one without a shovel) supervises the ship’s crew attempting to loosen the stranded Crown of Austria from the sandbar where it ran aground on December…
“Patterdale” at San Francisco Waterfront (1880)
Frank Hewson’s first voyage to San Francisco was on Patterdale, shown here tied up along the San Francisco waterfront. This image is from about 1880 and may be an actual…
Handwritten Frank Hewson Diary of 12 Voyages
Frank Hewson prepared this document for Amy sometime after they met. It contains detailed descriptions of his voyages as a merchant seaman with the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. NOTE: A…
Transcribed Frank Hewson Journal of 12 Voyages
NOTE: A copy of the original handwritten document can be seen HERE.
Thomas Waters Jr. Sketch of Barque Fawn (1840)
Thomas wrote this letter to his mother and father, Thomas Sr & Elizabeth Waters, shortly after he became a teenaged apprentice on the whaling ship Barque Fawn. You can faintly…
H.M.S. Revenge (1805)
Painting of HMS Revenge at Gosport in 1805. Artist, T. Robinson. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. See also P. 172 of the By Sea, By Land book.
Royal Marines Statement of Service for Thomas Waters Sr.
Thomas Waters Sr.'s Statement of Service in Royal Marines. See also P. 174 of the By Sea, By Land book.
H.M.S. Swiftsure (1798)
Thomas Waters’ second voyage was on HMS Swiftsure, which had fought in the Battle of Trafalgar. This image is of Swiftsure becalmed near Algeciras, as sketched by one of her…
H.M.S. Barham Saluting Sultan of Ottoman Empire
Barham saluting the Mahmud II, Sultan of the great Ottoman Empire, in the Bay of Bosporus near Topikapi Palace in 1832. Thomas Waters Sr. was on this voyage and wrote…
Example of Opium Clipper
An example of an “opium clipper,” called Water Witch. A British barque built in 1831. Joseph Waters' ship, Antonio Pereira, would have looked like this. Hill, Norman (artist); Peck, James…