A green hand's first cruise, roughed out from the log-book of memory, of twenty-five years standing: together with a residence of five months in Dartmoor. By a Younker

Baltimore: Cushing & Brother [volume I]; Boston: Otis, Broaders, and Company [volume II], 1841. First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. iv, [5], 14-278; [5], 6-329, [1]; original green cloth, gilt-stamped spines; each volume with a historical society bookplate; generally, very good and sound. With a presentation from the author's son in each of the volumes in pencil dated "Balt[imore], 1885." Volume I also bears the ownership inscription of marine historian Leon Polland. The author's recollections of the War of 1812. He describes his capture by the British, his time as a prisoner and his months in Dartmoor, with an account of the murder of American prisoners there. Dartmoor prison, in England, was built originally for French prisoners, and during the war of 1812 had within its walls 2,500 impressed sailors claiming to be American citizens and refusing to serve in the British navy against their country. A number were captured on the high seas or taken out of privateers and other American vessels, and kept until the close of the war amidst great suffering. Their harsh treatment caused a great deal of excitement in America, especially on an occasion when the guard fired upon the prisoners in what is known as the Dartmoor massacre. Cobb was one of the lucky survivors. The book is something of a publishing oddity. Volume I was published in Baltimore in 1841. Volume II was published in Boston by a different firm in the same year. Both volumes are sound in matching blind-stamped publisher's green cloth bindings, with gold lettering on backstrips slightly at odds. Both volumes were printed by John D. Toy in Baltimore, and both bear a copyright from the District Court of Maryland. There's likely a story here, but I haven't unearthed it. (Inventory #: 68728)