An excellent copy of this rare account of piracy in the North Pacific.
The voyage of the Mercury was ostensibly to investigate the North American fur trade. Historians have subsequently learned that this was a ruse and that this English ship with an English crew was actually in the service of Sweden. At sea, it transformed into the Gustav III, flew the Swedish the flag, and sought to prosecute instructions to harass Russian settlements in Alaska.
Despite its objectives, when the Mercury reached Russian settlements, the inhabitants were so impoverished the English actually assisted them with provisions. Hill describes Mortimer’s account of the settlement at Unalaska as “most inter- esting, as an account of sealskins and oil on Amsterdam Island.”
Although Russian intelligence referred to Cox’s vessel as a “Swedish cruiser,” this news did not reach Unalaska until Cox and his men had time to carry out extensive reconnaissance. However, it seems probable that the news arrived during their stay there, thereby precipitating the hasty departure of the Mercury.
In addition to its privateering objectives, and substantial information on the Pacific Northwest, the account of the Mercury includes an important account of life - and incidents - in the eighteenth century Pacific. Stops were made at Van Diemen’s Land, the Marianas, Tahiti, Hawaii and Canton.
Of great additional interest, they sailed close to Tubuai reef, where the Bounty mutineers were trying to establish a settlement, and arriving at Tahiti “became the first Europeans to hear anything of the course taken by the Bounty mutineers … They also learned in Tahiti that [Christian] had returned in the Bounty about two months after she first sailed, without Bligh, and that he sailed again fifteen days before their arrival, taking several Tahitian families” (Howgego). During their stay, Mortimer records that they saw an oil painting of Cook with manuscript notes by Bligh on the back. From there they sailed to Hawaii, where they visited the site of Cook’s death and were received by Kiana and Kamehameha. The information gathered at Tahiti was passed on to the Admiralty in the hope that the Pandora would be able to search out the mutineers.
Published in the same year as the London edition, the smaller format is entirely in keeping with Irish publications of the late eighteenth century. Rarer than the London edition, ABPC records just four copies at auction since 1975.
Provenance: James Sinclair (early signature on half title); Paul Peralta-Ramos (small red ink stamp); Martin Greene (bookplate; his sale, Christie’s December 07, 2017, lot 124).
cf. Lada-Mocarski, 48; Forbes (Hawaiian Nat. Bib.), 214; Sabin, 50985; Ferguson, 111; cf. Wantrup, 96; Hill, p206.
