Sketches of Naval Life: With Notices of Men, Manners and Scenery, on the Shores of the Mediterranean, in a Series of Letters from the Brandywine and Constitution Frigates: In Two Volumes. Volume I[-II].

George Jones

Hezekiah Howe, 1829

2 volumes. Mixed set. Volume one quarter bound in contemporary black calf-skin leather. V.2 has a contemporary leather backed boards. Vol. 1: viii, 284 p., [6] leaves of plates (1 folded); v. 2: vii, [1], 286, [2] p., [6] leaves of plates (2 folded). V.1 has a frontispiece fold-out map on of the Mediterranean. V.2 has foxing throughout. 

Contains letters sent to George Jones from sailors stationed on the Frigates Brandywine and Constitution from August 19, 1825 to May 15, 1827. The composed letters talk about the the description of the Brandywine and Constitution; Sea-faring life in the early U.S. Navy, including ship duties, martial law and the various stations of the naval hierarchy onboard ships in the 19th-century. The USS Brandywine was frigate that returned General Lafayette back to France after his Grand Tour of the United States and is talked about in Letter 5. After a stormy three weeks at sea, the warship arrived off Le Havre, France, early in October; and, following some initial trepidation about the government's attitude toward Lafayette's return to a France now ruled by the ultra reactionary King Charles X, Brandywine's honored passenger and her captain disembarked, the former to return home and the latter to tour the country for six months to study shipyards, ship design and other naval matters. The Brandywine left Le Havre that same day to join the United States Mediterranean Squadron. Up to February 1826, The Brandywine was called back and the author decided to join the crew of the USS Constitution. The remaining letters of the book described the populace of Greece's ever-mounting anger towards Turkish rule and American sympathy towards the sovereignty of the Greek people. The author also talks about the surrounding Greek seaside, ruins of temples with details plates and local customs. 

Sabin 81564.