USS Yantic Assistant Engineer George Henry Babbitt, Scrapbook Including Original Sketches

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Nov 18, 2016 - Nov 19, 2016

Set Reminder 2016-11-18 10:00:00 2016-11-19 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : American History Auction https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/cowans/american-history-auction-1870
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• Lot Description
  Scrapbook and partial log, 8.75 x 11.5 in., documenting Assistant Engineer George Henry Babbitt’s voyage to Greenland aboard the USS Yantic in 1883, including 8 original sketches that Babbitt accomplished while on his journey, illustrating sights that he encountered, such as their first iceberg, views of Godhaven Harbor, Kudtlissat Coal Cliffs/Banks, as well as 2 hand-colored maps he almost certainly produced showing routes of the Yantic to South America, Central America, North America, and Greenland, one titled Cruise of the USS Yantic Oct 2nd 1880 – Sept. 28th 1883; 20 extracts from Babbitt’s log of the voyage; 18pp of extensive newspaper articles from the 1883 Herald and Saint John’s, Newfoundland Evening Mercury, detailing the fate of the Greely Expedition, the sinking of the Proteus relief ship, the voyage of the Yantic and subsequent investigations into commanders’ and captains’ decisions; 2 hand-colored maps sketched by Babbit, each 7.5 x 10.5 in., signed by Babbitt, from Columbus, OH, dated December 1865, including renderings of New England States and the Middle States.
  
  The USS Yantic was a wooden gunboat built in 1864 that sailed into many historic missions. She pursued the Confederate privateer Tallahassee and was part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron near Wilmington, NC. The Yantic participated in the attempt to take Fort Fisher, NC and the capture of Fort Anderson, NC. Her blockading duties were part of the successful Union interdiction operations in 1864 and 1865. In 1874, the Yantic put ashore a landing force at Shanghai, China to quell a local riot.
  
  The Greely Exploration Expedition to Northern Greenland was initiated in 1881. When the first relief effort was stymied by ice in 1882, a second relief mission was assembled for the very short Arctic summer of 1883, and the steamer Proteus was the primary vessel designated to deliver supplies to the Greely party. The Yantic served as tender for the Proteus, which was crushed in the ice of Smith’s Sound and sunk in July 1883. Subsequently, the Yantic carried the men of the second relief party, led by Lieutenant Garlington, and also the officers and men of the Proteus back to New York in late September 1883. Unfortunately, neither ship found any trace of the ill-fated Greely Expedition.
  
  Many of the hardships and much of the misery faced by these Arctic explorers in 1883 were repeated once again 31 years later in the Antarctic voyages of Sir Ernest Shackleton at the opposite end of the earth. A long open boat voyage of over 1000 miles by US Navy Lieutenant J. C. Colwell across Melville Bay led to the rescue of the crew of the Proteus. The open boat voyage of Shackleton through the roughest ocean on earth is legendary. The Commander of the Yantic was Frank Wildes who later rose to the rank of admiral. Shackleton’s second in command was Frank Wild. The open boat voyagers lived with the constant stress that should they capsize in polar seas instant death was almost 100% certain.
  
  In addition to daily entries describing conditions on the ship, the weather, and how many icebergs were encountered...We have had icebergs in sight every day: am almost getting tired of them...Babbitt provides a detailed account of going ashore on one occasion with a number of the men and bringing along cheap jewelry, silk handkerchiefs, and knives. He states...the natives were very much excited over our display and wanted to trade everything they possessed for them...they ransacked our pockets, saying "Eskimo no steal," but they were very curious and bold for new acquaintances. He adds, The Govt. trading ships had visited this port & obtained all the skins, ivory, oil and other articles collected during the previous year so that the coveted polar bear skins, walrus tusks and narwhal horns which we had promised sweethearts & wives were not obtainable. Babbitt goes on to describe the costumes of the female and male Eskimos, including a sketch of the women's clothing, as well as their language, their strong interest in music, and their school and local government. In a later entry, he says that the Eskimos live what seems to us pitiful lives, especially in winter when they are huddled together in their huts, sometimes as many as 12 in one small room 10 feet square. In one of the final entries, dated September 14, Babbitt notes that they found the rest of the Proteus party, and criticizes Lieutenant Garlington's careless retreat without leaving proper records behind him, which was a fatal error. 
  
  Babbitt’s scrapbook provides a concise first person account of the Yantic’s 1883 voyage in support of early Arctic scientific exploration.

  Condition

  Binding is weak, with a few pages being loose or separated.
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