Case W6
- Later Voyages by Whalers, Missionaries
Louis Thiercelin. Journal d'un Baleinier: Voyages en Oceanie. Paris: L. Hachette et Cie, 1866.
This is the first edition of a whaling ship’s doctor’s account of two voyages to the Pacific which he made, twenty years apart, in 1837-41 and 1861-64. Dr Louis Thiercelin (1809-1884) provides a rare point of view in that he was an educated European who was neither a missionary nor a government official.
The French title, which translates as ‘A Whaler’s Journal’ is deceptive as the author is a doctor, who presents not a conventional voyager’s log-book, but an important early account of the Pacific, including details of two visits to Akaroa in 1840 and 1864.
The first English translation of a portion of Thiercelin’s memoirs was published as Travels in Oceania by the University of Otago Press in 1995.
Félix Maynard and Alexandre Dumas. Les Baleiniers: Voyage aux Terres Antipodiques ... Vol. II. Nouvelle ed. Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1889.
Les Baleiniers, the journal of Dr Félix Maynard (1813-1858) was first published in three small volumes, edited by Alexandre Dumas, in 1858. On display is the second of two volumes of a later French edition, in its original green printed wrappers.
Maynard was a surgeon who served on French whaling ships in and around New Zealand waters during 1837-38 and 1845-46. His intimate account of the early whaling days in New Zealand waters was edited, partially rewritten and no doubt embellished by Dumas, whose genius for storytelling is clearly apparent in the narrative.
The first English version of Les Baleiniers was translated by Frank Wild Reed and published in 1937. Reed was a notable New Zealand collector of the works of Dumas, and brother of fellow bibliophile A.H. Reed.
Félix Maynard and Alexandre Dumas. Les Baleiniers: Voyage aux Terres Antipodiques ... Vol. II. Nouvelle ed. Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1889.
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Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet. Journal of Voyages and Travels by Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Deputed from the London Missionary Society, to Visit their Various Stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, etc ... Vol. II. London: Westley and Davis, 1831.
In 1821, Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet of the London Missionary Society departed from London on a voyage whose purpose was to report on progress in the various stations throughout the Pacific islands. The most memorably stark incident of their long voyage occurred in July 1824 during a visit to the Wesleyan Mission Station at Whangaroa, where they were narrowly rescued from local Māori by the timely arrival of George (Te Ara, d. 1827), a much-feared local chief, accompanied by the missionary William White.
Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet. Journal of Voyages and Travels by Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Deputed from the London Missionary Society, to Visit their Various Stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, etc ... Vol. II. London: Westley and Davis, 1831.
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