Leaves of My Journal

Dwight C. Brown Jr., archivist emeritus of the Westerly Historical Society and author of several books and numerous articles on Westerly history, compiled "Leaves of My Journal" from a series of articles published in the Narragansett Weekly in 1861. The articles, written by the anonymous 'A. Whaler,' recount a two-year whaling voyage during the 1840s. With reference to his journal from the time, the author provides a first-hand account of a greenhorn's experiences on a whale ship sailing from New Bedford round Cape Horn to the Hawaiian Islands, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, New Zealand, and homeward bound.