Ship's Papers of Eunice H. Adams (Brig) of Edgartown

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 003-02-02

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The records in this collection represent four voyages of the brig Eunice H. Adams while under the management of Samuel Osborn, Jr. of Edgartown, Massachusetts. The records include articles of agreement, correspondence, crew lists, bills & receipts and crew accounts.

Several voyages include records of activities of particular note. The voyage of 1884-1885 includes records related to ship repair due to leaks, regular shipping business and bills related to medical treatment for the ailing Master Marchant and his funeral as well as records from his replacement, J.W. Pardee. The voyage of 1887-1890 includes an account of the impact of a storm on the ship and the resulting injury of Master Martin. The voyage of 1893-1894 includes correspondence from the U.S. Consul in Barbados to Agent Samuel Osborn Jr. of the ailing Master Silvia who appeared to be suffering from insanity and was removed from the ship.

Dates

1883-1895

Creator

Martin, William A., (Shipmaster) (Person)

Biographical / Historical

The Eunice H. Adams was built in 1845 by Amos Crandall in Bristol, R.I. It completed fourteen whaling voyages between 1865 and 1896 based out of Nantucket, New Bedford and Edgartown before it was broken up in New Bedford. It was purchased by Samuel Osborn Jr. (1823-1895) in 1884 and was retained by him until after his death. Osborn began building a fleet of whaling ships in 1870 and by 1880 was the largest shipping agent of whaling property in the United States. The records in this collection were originally found within a sea chest owned by Agent Samuel Osborne which included papers related to the last four voyages of the Eunice H. Adams from 1884 to 1893.

The voyage of 1884-1885 was under Masters Cornelius Marchant and J. W. Pardee. Cornelius M. Marchant was born 7 April 1826 in Edgartown, Massachusetts and died on 26 February, 1885 in Barbados while on voyage with the Eunice H. Adams. J. W. Pardee took over as Master of the ship upon his death, but little is known about him.

The voyage of 1885-1887 was under Master Manuel Estaus Costa. Costa (1849-1914) was born in Faial, Azores and worked as Master on at least eleven different whaling voyages.

The voyage of 1887-1890 was under Master William A. Martin (1830-1907) of Edgartown, Massachusetts. He took at least nine voyages until he was injured during a storm on the Eunice H. Adams after which he retired. He is notable as one of only a few African-American ship captains and was the first African American on Martha’s Vineyard to serve as a whaling captain. He returned to Martha’s Vineyard where he lived with his wife Sarah G. Brown until his death.

The voyage of 1893-1894 under Master Clarence J. Sylvia (1867-1894) of New Bedford, Massachusetts. While records show that he worked on several other whaling ships, the Eunice H. Adams appears to have been his first time as the master of a ship. Correspondence in the collection notes that he was removed from the ship in Barbados due to “insanity”. Massachusetts death record notes that he died in Barbados from a tumor.

Extent

.8 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Portuguese

Additional Description

Arrangement

The materials are arranged into four series representing four distinct voyages & masters of the Eunice H. Adams.

Series 1: Voyage of 1884-1885 under Masters Cornelius Marchant and J. W. Pardee

Series 2: Voyage of 1885-1887 under Master Manuel E. Costa.

Series 3: Voyage of 1887-1890 under Master William A. Martin

Series 4: Voyage of 1893-1894 under Master Clarence J. Sylvia

Custodial History

Acquired as part of the Paul C. Nicholson Whaling Collection in 1956.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Paul C. Nicholson, 1956. Account of expenses from voyage in 1887 was purchased in 2015.

Accruals

No accruals are expected.

Related Materials

003-01-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Logbooks, Providence Public Library. Includes a total of fourteen logbooks and account books for the Eunice H. Adams from 1870-1893.

003-05-02, Nicholson Whaling Collection Artifacts, Providence Public Library.

Eunice H. Adams logbook, 1872-1874 & Photograph Collection, New Bedford Whaling Museum

#335, Osborn Family Papers, Martha’s Vineyard Museum

Figurehead of the Eunice H. Adams, Mystic Seaport Museum

Separated Materials

Sea chest for the Eunice H. Adams cataloged separately in the Nicholson Whaling Artifact Collection.

Logbooks and account books of the Eunice H. Adams are cataloged separately within the Nicholson Whaling Logbook Collection. These items are digitized and available at https://archive.org/details/providencepublicnicholson

Processing Information

Previously part of general Nicholson Whaling Manuscript Collection, Subgroup 1. Processing by James E. Connor in 1993, Judith Lund in 2008 with additions made to the finding aid by Janaya Kizzie in 2014. The decision to reprocess the subgroups as individual collections was made by Jordan Goffin in 2018. The collection was reprocessed by Kate Wells in 2019.