Blue Jacket journal and chronicle of the blue waters, 1855 [manuscript]
Creator
Baines, Thomas, 1820-1875
Call Number
MS 95
Created/Published
[1855]
Extent
0.03 (1 v.)
Items
304
Scope and Content
MS 95 comprises a journal that appeared weekly during the six-week voyage of the Blue Jacket from Liverpool to Melbourne, March-May 1855. It begins with a prospectus announcing its campaign against ennui and ends with the Editor's farewell address. Each issue contains letters to the editor, market reports and other editorial comments, mainly humorous, concerning life on board, together with anonymous verse and prose contributions. The sketches and illustrations are presumably Baines' work. There is also a 2 page tabular comparison of the logs of the Blue Jacket and the Red Jacket, travelling from Liverpool to Australia, the latter being "the fastest passage to Australia hitherto known".
Background
Artist and explorer. Thomas Baines accompanied exploring expeditions in Northwest Australia.