Sailors' Snug Harbor Connections
Library Records
In The View from the Masthead Hester Blum makes the case that sailors "were a class of workers who attained an above-average degree of literacy and who participated in a robust culture of reading and writing" (25). In making this case, Blum relies on the findings of Harry Skallerup, who used signature estimates, charitable organizations' surveys, naval library records, and mechanics' library histories to quantify sailor literacy (see Books Afloat & Ashore: a History of Books, Libraries, and Reading Among Seamen During the Age of Sail, 1974). Blum expanded on Skallerup's research by examining sailor writings, which provide further evidence of their literary interests and ambitions.
SUNY Maritime College is home to an additional, largely unexplored, treasure trove of data on sailors' reading habits: library records in the Sailors' Snug Harbor archives. Sailors Snug Harbor was the first home for retired seamen in the United States, dedicated to the welfare of “aged, decrepit, and worn out” mariners. Established through through the 1801 will of Robert Richard Randall (son of wealthy privateer Thomas Randall), the home opened on Staten Island in 1833. According to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, "by the turn of the century, Sailors’ Snug Harbor was reputedly the richest charitable institution in the United States and a self-sustaining community with farms, a dairy, a bakery, workshops, a power plant, a chapel, a sanatorium, a hospital, a concert hall, dormitories, recreation areas, gardens, and a cemetery." Omitted from this list of amenities was the library, which was used extensively by the residents.
- Novels and Tales (probably this book by Goethe)
- Two Years Ago (probably this book by Charles Kingsley)
- Harper's
- Scribner's
- Court of London (probably The mysteries of the court of London by George W M Reynolds)
- Camp and Field (probably Volunteers' Camp and Field Book: Containing Useful and General Information on the Art and Science of War, for the Leisure Moments of the Soldier by John P. Curry)
- Lady of Lyndon (probably The Lady of Lyndon by Louise Pilkington Blake)
- Seaside Library (probably related to the Seaside Library editions of popular titles published by George Munro)
- Our Saturday Nights (probably this book by Mark Mills Pomeroy)
- Three Spaniards (probably Three Spaniards: A Romance By George Walker)
- Hidden Perils (probably this book by Mary Cecil Hay)
- King's Own (probably this book by Frederick Marryat)
- Arabian Nights (of which there are many versions)
- Christina North (probably this book by Eleanor A. Towle)
- Brave Old Salt (probably Brave Old Salt, Or, Life on the Quarter Deck, A Story of the Great Rebellion by Oliver Optic)
Herman Melville and Sailors' Snug Harbor
In a tantalizing twist, Herman Melville was intimately connected to Sailors' Snug Harbor and its library through his brother, Captain Thomas Melville, who ran the institution from 1867-1884. According to John Rocco, "Thomas Melville has been called one of the most important leaders of Snug Harbor for modernizing the record keeping and expanding the population. Herman Melville and the Melville family spent many holidays at Sailors’ Snug Harbor during Thomas Melville’s tenure as Governor from 1867-1884." As a young man Thomas Melville went to sea as a whaler, eventually commanding a clipper ship for seven years. After taking the helm of Snug Harbor at age 37 he married Catherine Bogart, daughter of the institution's Chief Physician (Barry 96-98; Shepherd, 22-25).About 20 books from the Snug Harbor Library are preserved in the SUNY Maritime Archives. Among them is an 1813 edition of John Turnbull's A voyage round the world, in the years 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804 with a title page inscribed "Herman Melville April 10th 1847 New York." Presumably, Melville purchased the book in New York in 1847, when he was a hot new novelist in the New York literary scene. His first two books Typee (1846) and Omoo (1847), based on his own adventures to the South Seas, were controversial but extremely popular. By the time Thomas became head of Sailor's Snug Harbor, Herman's life had changed dramatically. Moby-Dick, now revered as an American classic, had flopped, and he had receded into obscurity. In 1866 he began a monotonous day job at a New York Customhouse.
Ned Myers
Additional
- See a Timeline of the Early Governors of Sailors' Snug Harbor on this page.
- Read "Herman Melville, Sailors’ Snug Harbor, and John Turnbull’s 'A Voyage Round the World'" by Heidi Rempel, Digital Project Archivist, at: https://medium.com/@LuceLibrary/herman-melville-sailors-snug-harbor-and-john-turnbull-s-a-voyage-round-the-world-d7832b6ea28e