WILLIAMS (Capt. E.C.)
Life in the South Seas. History of the Whale Fisheries ...
PERILS OF THE CHASE
Williams was a Nantucket whaler who toured the United States with a painted panorama which he claimed measured over 8000 feet. (This is more than six times the size of the one at the Mystic Seaport museum.) Not only did it depict whaling scenes but apparently was accompanied by a live whaleboat and crew. Commencing in Nantucket, there follow scenes in the Azores, Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro, and then on to the Pacific Islands. It was was first exhibited in 1858 and Williams spent the next eight years touring with it. He died in 1868.
This pamphlet was produced to accompany the New York show in 1860 (that year tickets were fifteen cents). It is comprised of selective quotes from Melville, J. Ross Browne, Thomas Beale and other core whaling texts. There are sections on the whale, whaling life, Native American whaling and it also includes a short account of the wreck of the whaleship Essex.
Scarce: while reasonably well held in libraries just five copies are recorded at auction, the last in 2009.
