The Journal of John Woolman has been included in Volume I of the Harvard Classics since 1909 and is considered a prominent American spiritual work. John Woolman was an American merchant, journalist, Quaker preacher, and early abolitionist during the colonial era. He advocated against slavery and the slave trade, cruelty to animals, economic injustices and oppression, and conscription. Throughout his life, he kept a journal where he noted his political and religious views and ideas. As it was published posthumously, the diary became famous for the power and clarity of its prose.
This volume offers annotated texts with biographical and historical introductions of four previously unpublished travel journals from the period 1775-1874. The first of these is the journal of a participant in a Spanish expedition sent from Mexico to explore the north-west coast of America. From the outset, difficulties plagued the voyage. Bodega's ship, a small schooner named Sonora, was not designed for open-ocean voyaging. A landing party was attacked and killed; midway into the voyage the Sonora became separated from her flagship; and later she was nearly capsized by a massive wave. Bodega's journal records the voyage's travails, hardships, discoveries, and eventual return. Next comes the journal of Commander Stokes, who served in command of HMS Beagle, under Captain P. P. King during the survey of the Straits of Magellan in 1827. This is an account of a detached operation, in very difficult weather conditions, in the western part of the strait. It is introduced by remarks on the expedition and the hydrographic history of the strait from its discovery to the inception of the survey and supplemented by remarks from Captain King's account and also that of the clerk, Macdouall. The third text is the journal of a young midshipman in HMS Chanticleer, a small vessel commanded by Henry Foster, RN, who had recently been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his scientific work in the Arctic. The voyage of 1828-31 was to make observations in the South Atlantic to determine the shape of the Earth and to ascertain the longitudes of a number of ports. Kay's lively diary describes the Chanticleer's encounters with warships of the Brazilian navy, largely manned by Englishmen. He records his struggle to take observations at Deception Island during gales and snowstorms, and near Cape Horn in fierce squalls and constant chilling rain, nevertheless remaining cheerful in the company of his fellow midshipmen. The final piece is the diary of Jacob Wainwright.
The Journals of Two Poor Dissenters (1970) is a remarkable example of voices from the past, giving a humble man’s record of his time. William Swan and his son were Nonconformist labourers in London in the early part of the nineteenth century. They were poor, ill, afflicted with family troubles and the constant problem of finding work. In spite of this they thanked God for each misfortune as it arrived, and looked to the next year with gratitude for all the graces which the modern reader may find hard to detect. The Introduction places this account in its context of history and social record.
