Stove by a Whale: Owen Chase and the Essex

A: Herman Melville's Annotations and Markings in His Copy of Owen Chase's Narrative

Appendix A HERMAN MELVILLE'S ANNOTATIONS AND MARKINGS IN HIS COpy OF OWEN CHASE'S NARRATIVE Herman Melville's copy of Owen Chase's Narrative is in the Houghton Library, Harvard University. It is not the copy that Melville borrowed from Owen's son William Henry and read at sea but the copy that Melville's father-in-law, Judge Shaw, procured for him from Thomas Macy of Nantucket and sent to him around April 1851 as he was completing Moby-Dick. Thomas Macy apologized for sending an imperfect copy of the Narrative-the only one he could find was missing pages 123 to 128 at the end of the volume. Melville made his annotations on sheets of light blue, ruled paper bound into the front and the back of the volume, and he also marked the text of his copy. Immediately inside the front cover is the first of the light blue sheets, blank on both sides, then a sheet with an ink inscription, "Herman Melville / from Judge Shaw / ApriI.1851." This inscribed sheet is blank on the back and is followed by the sheet numbered page 1. The numbering continues without interruption up to page 18 (but page 1 and pages 8 to 13 are blank). Pages 19-20 have been torn out, but a fragment in the binding with a pen marking suggests that there was writing on the page. The next sheet after page 18 is a letter from Thomas Macy to Judge Shaw, which obviously accompanied the gift book. This is the last of the sheets bound in the front of the book; the title page follows. After page 122 the annotations on the blue paper resume, the pages being numbered from 21 to 30 and followed by thirty-four APPENDIX A 185 unnumbered blank pages. The page numbering IS 10 pencil and possibly in a later hand. Melville's annotations are in ink except for those on pages 17-18, which are in green crayon. Melville used crayon in his later years when his eyes were failing. All or most of the annotations except those in crayon were probably written some time in the fifteen-month period between Melville's receipt of the book, presumably April 1851, and his trip to Nantucket in July 1852, for in a comment on page 23 of the annotations he expressed uncertainty as to whether Captain Pollard was still alive, something he would not have done after meeting him July 8, 1852. It is only in the crayon annotation, apparently written in old age, that Melville indicates that he has met Captain Pollard. The annotations, then, seem to coincide with the last months of the writing of Moby-Dick or with the writing of Pierre. The annotations are reproduced in full below, facsimile and transcription. Following the annotations, Melville's markings in Owen's text are reproduced. 186 APPENDIX A M.;~i~"~h~ C""+~ ~c-4>J 4... ~ ~"I-~ f"-4"G~-'~ G.- ~~ ~~/r"'''' ~. 7P. JL L~_ &...Hh -4.. ~.I-~C~~ ~ ~I(..,~.:) ~ ~ ~ .. 4Ik4 ...Ic~~ ~. 7i? ik..", ~ ~ , ~~. CL+~.L~ ~19'-,fN tJ.J but for the fact, that this is the only copy that I have been able to procureNantucket 4 m1851 Respectfully thy friend Tho~ Macy 198 APPENDIX A 2 I .9 ~ ~ f.d.R. k",~k~~~fh ~ ~ ~ e~~.l~~ -&.1- ~~~~~~~ I.~~,-~~",-..., ~~ -f.. S Jk ?4,"" ~ . f..,.... ~ ~ CA... ~.;) hA. d..z... "- ~ ~ 'ht../.L., enough) by a ship, which APPENDIX A 201 purpos[eJly touched there for them, being advised of them, by their shipmates who had prev[iousJly landed 'in Chili. - - All the sufferings of these miserable men of the Essex might, in all human probabil[itJy, have been avoided, had they, imm[eJd[iatJely after leav[in)g the wreck, steered straight for Tahiti, from which they were not very distant at the time, & to which, there was a fair Trade wind. But they dreaded cannibals, & str[an)ge to tell knew not that for more than 20 years, the English 202 APPENDIX A 2.5- ~L~ ~I4At7 ~ " ol ~ ~ IJL.. ~ I ~e- 1n..e- ~-I.. -i ~ 2. () _ ,A ""- ~ ~ '/p. /}k ~ t;- ~ i1V ~~'. !3..A ~ Un- tMe - .. G-::> "--' -l ~~ I ~ ~~1~~~ ......~C~~ ~"-'l~)~~ 4-~~ e-...e..... ~ I- It.t ~.1 ~ ~4-.-... , rmsslOns had been resident in Tahiti; & that in the same year of their shipw...