E L L I E M A T H E W S
:: AUTHOR • H O M E • A B O U T • C O N T A C T • A P P E A R A N C E S
(as Eleanor Mathews)
David R. Godine, Publisher
9 Hamilton Place • Boston MA 02108
www.godine.com
PRICE: $29.95 • PAGES: 368
SIZE: 6 x 9" • 107 B/W ILLUSTRATIONS
ISBN 1-56792-246-5
A Naturalist's Year Aboard a Yankee Whaleship
FROM THE AUTHOR
Half a century ago my grandfather, Robert Cushman Murphy, published Logbook
for Grace, in which he offered an edited version of the letters he had written my
grandmother while on his first scientific expedition in 1912; they had been married
only four months when he sailed on the brig Daisy. While my grandmother waited out
the year, her new husband criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger in a
wooden whaleship that took him to the rim of the Antarctic and back. As a curator for
the American Museum of Natural History, he was in search of specimens from the
wild world. The captain's goal was blubber.
In addition to the romance, the history, the adventure, the whaling lore, and the
unbridled enthusiasm of the man who lived it, the story tells of how museums went
about filling their glass cases, once upon a time.
"Another happy serendipity plucked from
my local library's shelf. A tale. . . retold by
his granddaughter, from his diaries and
journals, is also a thorough account of a
working whaling ship without any of the
modern 'save-the-whales' rhetoric . . ."
NORTH COAST CAFE WEBLOG
". . . his granddaughter has added
[Murphy's] own photographs and
unpublished notes to build a fascinating
third person account of his raw and gritty
adventure in a pristine wilderness. You
will find yourself mesmerized by the
accounts of the crew, the sea, the
roaches and rats, and the whaling
process that Mathews has presented.
Read this with a warm mug of coffee or
cocoa, and be thankful that somebody else
undertook this adventure for us all to share."
PAULINE HAASS PUBLIC LIBRARY, WISCONSON"Captain Cleveland had gathered enough Dominicans to fill out the crew,
and water lapped at the Daisy's waiting hull. The wooden brig was about to
become their home. The ship had no engine, no communications gear, no
navigational gizmos, no Marconi wireless, no knobs or dials to speak of,
nothing to whir or click. A compass, sextant, and timepiece would be how
they would know their position beneath the sun and the stars. For a voyage
that would probably last twelve months but which was guaranteed not to
exceed thirty, any contact with family or home would be by luck and by letter.
Even at that postings would be uncertain. To predict general delivery
addresses in the strew of Atlantic islands would be impossible. Murphy could
only guess at where the ship would be and when it would be there. . . . Ports
and dates would be determined by winds and whales and the speed with which
the Daisy's barrels filled with oil.
This much was certain: the captain's word would rule. His manner was
brusque and his opinions strong. It would be up to Murphy, the Latin scholar
and genteel scientist, to make himself fit in. He'd be living tight with rats and
roaches, four pigs, a mongrel dog, and thirty-three other men of widely
disparate backgrounds, some of the men not fluent in English.
Once they hoisted their sails in Portsmouth, there would be no turning
back."
AND FROM PAGE 74. . .
"In the small hours of August 1st, with a light fair wind, the Daisy passed
Guadeloupe. The sun rose and they cruised by Monserrat, the Rock of Redonda,
Nevis, and St. Kitts' long, low extremities. By evening St. Eustatius lay dead
ahead, with the more distant Saba off the lee bow. Night's black-shadow islands
chased and tumbled through Murphy's keyed-up brain. Under a waning moon
they passed St. Bartholomew, then Sint Maartin, Anguilla, and Seal Rocks in
the early morning. Sombrero, low and flat with a high lighthouse, slipped astern
before noon.
That would be the last land for a long long time."
Track of the brig Daisy
1912-13
"To a sailor
a shortcut
is the long way
'round."
In this enjoyable and informative book, {Murphy's} granddaughter has rewritten his logbook
in the third person . . . with previously unpublished details and adding photographs he made
and developed himself during the voyage. Murphy . . . presented a vivid picture of life aboard
the whaler: the irascible captain, the rowdy sailors, the terrible food and inadequate medical
supplies . . . and the grisly business of killing whales . . . Especially touching are the passages
Mathews quotes in which her grandfather expresses longing for his wife . . . Murphy was an
accomplished writer with a fine-tuned sense of humor. Mathews . . . does an admirable job of
reworking the impressive account of his voyage. Her handsome book is a fitting tribute to a
man who went on to become one of this country's most distinguished naturalists and
environmentalists."
"By their spouts,
so shall you know them."
Through Murphy's meticulous observations of every albatross, cockroach, shark, and crew
member, I felt as though I was on the ship with him. His delight at every encounter with the
natural world---penguins, whales, leopard seals, and skua colonies---pulled me into his scientist's
mind. I worried about the marooned prisoner colony . . . , the slaughter of elephant seals, an
the ferocious storms. . . beriberi late in the voyage, and . . . when Murphy got no word from
home. Fortunately for all readers, the young naturalist had made the difficult decision to leave
his new bride, Grace Emeline, to leave on the chance-of-a-lifetime trip. The resultant letters to
Grace, from which the author (his granddaughter) produces many of his quotes, are full of
celebration, despair, and humor. This gorgeous book with plenty of photographs, illustrations,
and excellent writing, held me spellbound.
The brig Daisy
at anchor, Cumberland Bay,
South Georgia Island
wonderful beyond description."
FROM THE LOGBOOK,
November 22, 1912
is to be left alone for a hundred years."
ROBERT CUSHMAN MURPHY
1987-1973
Eleanor Mathews has worked as a cartographer, graphic designer, and software developer. She has published a variety of technical articles and a book on presentation design. More recently, Mathews has published fiction and memoir. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest.
