1881 · London
by Oliver, Capt. S.P.
London: W.H. Allen & Co., 1881. This is the British shipping company, not the Union Navy, so there's no Civil War content for you. Instead, the author offers an off beat "collection of scraps of information" accumulated over the course of "several voyages... in the steam vessels of the Union Company." Colorful yarns, factoids, and anecdotes abound, but the most notable feature of this book is its continued interest in, and search for, SEA SERPENTS. Yup, "since a distinguished writer and careful observer... has declared the possibility of such an animal's existence, I recommend all voyageurs to be on the look-out for this survival of Zeuglodontia" - supposed to be toothed whale-like monsters from the Eocene period that somehow survived. The aforementioned distinguished writer has his say in the Appendix, in which personal and news reports of sightings are recounted, and several b/w illustrations attempt to render the monster as it appeared to observers at sea. As if that weren't enough, the appendix also provides detailed accounts of the sinking of six Union Company steamships, none caused by collisions with sea serpents as far as I can determine. Bound in publisher's decorated cloth. Slight lean to spine, backstrip sunned and chipped at extremities. Front hinge cracked, leaving the board hanging by a thread.. 22 cm. viii, 328 pp. tipped-in b/w photo frontispiece, line ills. (Inventory #: 47830)