Twenty Years Before The Mast / With The More Thrilling Scenes And Incidents While Circumnavigating The Globe Under The Command Of The Late Admiral Charles Wilkes 1838-1842 Charles Erskine

Green cloth decoratively stamped in gilt on spine and front cover. Spine ends show slight wear. Front inner hinge taped. Brief gift inscription on front pastedown, else internally clean. Nearly 60 illustrations, including 13 full-page. 311 pages. Charles Erskine's account, describing experiences of the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842, under the command of Commodore Charles Wilkes, voyaging in six ships, the USS Vincennes, Peacock, Porpoise, Relief, Sea Gull, and Flying Fish. From Hampton Roads, Virginia to the Madeira Islands, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, Fiji, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, the mouth of the Columbia River (where they lost the USS Peacock), and the Puget Sound. The author, Charles Erskine (1822-1900), was a native of Roxbury, Massachusetts who had grown up on the wharves of Boston listening to the yarns of sailors, and who took to the seas at a young age.