From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library

In the last few years we have read about cruise ship vacations gone bad, to the point where the passengers form a “mutiny.” As we can see by the May 31, 1900 article from Port Townsend’s Weekly Leader, this sort of thing is nothing new:

CONDITION ABOARD OF THE ABERDEEN

Wild Rumors Circulated to the Effect that Passengers Had Mutinied.

INSPECTORS OF VESSELS SEVERELY CRITICISED

Forty Men and Women Compelled to Remain on Crowded Deck Over Night.

“Wild rumors were floating up and down the coast yesterday and correspondents here were queried relative to the report that mutiny had occurred on board the steam schooner Aberdeen, which sailed for Cape Nome last Monday, and that the captain in order to quell the mutiny had killed the men. This report as it traveled lost none of its sensational features and the coast press was anxious to secure a confirmation or denial and hence correspondents here received numerous telegrams of inquiry, but were unable to obtain anything further than the report.”

“However, from all accounts there was some trouble aboard the vessel before she passed Cape Flattery and after getting out to sea there is every indication that more trouble occurred, but probably to no such serious extent as indicated in the rumors.”

“One of the Aberdeen‘s passengers sent the following to the Oregonian, which gives a fair insight into the condition of affairs on board of that vessel before she passed out to sea, and under such conditions before the vessel reached the billowy ocean, when passengers commenced getting seasick, it is a hard matter to conjecture just what might happen and perhaps it was on the strength of which the wild rumors were circulated:”

“Aboard the Aberdeen, Neah Bay, May 21, 2 P.M.– The steamer Aberdeen left Seattle at 2:30 this morning, with over 300 passengers, and accommodations for but 160. Many of those aboard loudly demanded return of passage money and over 40 men and women were kept on the crowded decks over night without berths.”

“Towards morning the passengers became mutinous, and the order was given to put in to Port Townsend and discharge the overloaded vessel, which order was soon changed by the captain when it became evident that many of those on board were anxious for a chance to libel the ship for breach of contract and obtaining money under false pretenses.”

“Neah Bay was the selected as a favorable port for discharging the angered argonauts, which, on account of the lack of telegraphic communication and inability of the injured ones to secure legal action, was an ideal harbor in which to unload.”

“Passengers and crew were fighting all night. Women and men were sleeping out on the open on hay bales. The officers were independent and insolent, and offered but little assistance to the unfortunate ones who had paid $125 for a worse than steerage accommodation.”

“The decks were piled high with freight of all descriptions, including 40 head of horses, lumber, hay, boats, etc. The inspectors passed so many on board that there is not over 60 cubic feet of air space to each passenger, while the deck space is so limited that there is no opportunity for any exercise whatever, and they are compelled to remain in the stuffy staterooms, while there are six sleeping in rooms 6×7 feet, or considerably less than 60 cubic feet for each passenger. So much freight was loaded at the last moment that it was decided to take the inside passage, in order to lesson the danger to life.”

“The passengers are furious, and threaten legal action against the promoters of the iniquitous enterprise, as well as bodily injury to members of the crew. Unless something is done to alleviate their grievances, a general uprising will result and passengers will take matters into their own hands.”

“Shipping men on the Sound are unanimous in saying that if the inspector would establish a rule not to allow any craft, no matter what her condition or what trade he wished to engage in, more than double her regular passenger allowance, it would quickly put a stop to vessels putting to sea in the cramped condition of the Aberdeen and a dozen others this month. Such a rule would allow the Aberdeen 62 passengers, fully 200 less than she had on board when she lay alongside the dock in Seattle.”

The Aberdeen was among the first ships to bring legions of goldseekers to Cape Nome. Obviously  commercial maritime transportation was caught by surprise when gold fever hit the lower 48.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The fun part about murky plots and conspiracies is that they are just that– murky, leaving a mystery for historians to argue about for decades. Even at the time the daring plan of Confederate agents in Victoria B.C. to capture a Port Townsend-based Revenue Cutter was exposed, rival newspapers could not agree on the facts of the case.

The following article was found in the March 7, 1863 Washington Statesman, a Walla Walla newspaper. John T. Jeffreys was apparently remembered in that city as “Sensation John,” from his exploits in the area serving as a lieutenant with the Oregon Volunteers during the Native American conflict of 1855-56.

The Plot to Seize the Shubrick

“John T. Jeffreys– ‘sensation John,’ and now, secession John– comes out in an article in the British Colonist, and acknowledges that the reported plot to seize the U.S. Steamer Shubrick and convert her into a privateer was an actuality. John’s article is characteristic, and were it not for the fact his statements are corroborated through other sources, we should be inclined to believe the whole thing a humbug. He pitches into the editor of the Colonist, for exposing the scheme, in this wise:”

“‘I admit freely that there was a Confederate Commodore here, and that he had a commission in his pocket. I admit that a crew was picked and that the object was to injure Federal commerce in these waters. In short, I admit everything that you have stated, except that the expedition was a piratical one, and that the design was to burn the mail steamer. That would never have been done, except in case of necessity, which, I think is safe to say, would never have arisen.'”

 “‘I make this statement boldly, not because I wish to render myself notorious, but because you have meanly– with a meaness which your friends never supposed you capable of– violated a confidence reposed in you, and made an affair public which you should have kept locked within your own breast. True, the thing had fallen through. True, the Commodore had left and the scheme had been abandoned; but, sir, by what right, or by whose permission, did you feel 

warranted in exposing the enterprise, without first consulting its leaders, or the parties who furnished you the information? I do not know who your informant was, and I do not care now, (time was when I might have cared, though) but this I will say, that he has betrayed a sacred confidence reposed in him, which he 

should have rather lost his life than to have done.'”

“Pity that this betrayer of ‘sacred confidence’ did not have the power to do it in such a manner as to have had the plotters ‘left dangling at a rope’s end.'”

Identified by some as an Alabaman, John Thomas Jeffreys was actually born in Independence, Missouri April 7, 1830. John, along with his parents and siblings, went overland by wagon train to northwest Oregon in 1845. After the 1849 death of their father Thomas Jeffreys, the family moved The Dalles.

John was in the cattle trade and along with his brother Oliver found an excellent market in British Columbia. According to F.W. Laing in the Oct. 1942 British Columbia Historical Quarterly, the brothers Jeffreys first show up in BC documents as early as 1860. Benjamin F. Gilbert in the July-Oct. 1954 issue of the same periodical has a long essay on the details of Jeffreys’ involvement in the Shubrick case.

The newspaperman who Jeffreys felt betrayed him was actually with the Victoria Daily Chronicle. His name was David Williams Higgins and he later wrote a memoir suggesting the plot was really exposed by Union intelligence rather than by journalists. According to Scott McArthur in The Enemy Never Came, the American Consul Mr. Francis informed the Shubrick’s pro-Union second in command, Lt. James M. Selden, of the plot. Apparently the skipper and other sailors were in on the plan. So when the Shubrick visited Victoria “while the ship’s captain and most of the crew were ashore, Selden and six members of the crew cast off and returned to Port Townsend.”

The rival Victoria newspaper, The Daily British Colonist, was openly critical of the Chronicle for being sensationalist and a scandal sheet. The publisher was none other than that steak-juggling eccentric, Amor de Cosmos, who we met in an earlier post.   De Cosmos had been Higgins’ mentor and employer before the two had a falling out in 1862.

Shortly after the Shubrick incident Jeffreys returned to Oregon, where he was arrested. He died in The Dalles Feb. 24, 1867, aged 36.

The Shubrick continued life as a government ship until 1886, when it was sold in Astoria, Oregon and scrapped.

Maryland native Lt. James M. Selden was promoted to Captain in the U.S. Revenue Marine Service in 1867. He died March 16, 1888, aged about 57, as the result of sunstroke while on duty.

The Washington Statesman is available in online form thanks to the efforts of our Digital and Historical Collections team. It provides a window into Washington Territory’s contemporary view of the Civil War.

WSL also holds copies of the Daily British Colonist on microfilm.

David Williams Higgins (1834-1917) merged his own newspaper with the Colonist in 1866 to form The Daily British Colonist and Victoria Chronicle which he used as a springboard for political office.

Governor Isaac Stevens

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

160 years! And our flame continues to illuminate the world around us.

The Washington State Library is celebrating its 160th birthday in 2013. Why is this an important number? First, no other public cultural or educational institution in Washington can make this claim. And second, not only are we are still here but WSL staff continue to provide excellent access to the information needs of the people and libraries of The Evergreen State. And third, our story is the story of Washington Territory and State. We were here from the very start and have evolved with the times, consistently reflecting the history taking place around us.

So as we kick off a series of blogposts covering this event let us go back to the Organic Act of 1853, which created Washington Territory and included:

SEC. 17. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended, by and under the direction of the Governor of Washington, in the purchase of a library, to be kept at the seat of government for the use of the Governor, legislative assembly, Judges of the Supreme Court, secretary, marshal, and Attorney of said Territory, and such other persons, and under such regulations, as shall be prescribed by law.

Millard FIllmore

The name of President Millard Fillmore usually evokes a snicker, but he was actually an important figure in our history since it was his signature that created Washington Territory. And yet, from what I can find, not one single political or geographic area is named in his honor here in Washington.

When Isaac Stevens was appointed the first territorial governor, among the many tasks he was charged with included the selection of the library. As our webpage states: “… Stevens purchased books from H. Bailliere of London and C.B. Norton and Co. of New York City; collected archival documents from all the states of the union; acquired the still unpublished Wilkes Expedition charts, having them printed by George F. Lewis of Philadelphia; and made arrangements for the casing and portage of these materials through vendors in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. The first 2,000 books travelled by an unknown steamer.”

There’s more, but I’ll stop at the “unknown steamer” mention in order to present the first of many historical mysteries in the WSL story as we enlist the help of you readers and historians out there to participate in enriching our narrative.

The couple thousand or so volumes of the original Territorial Collection were loaded on the East Coast and made the journey around the tip of South America to San Francisco, where they changed ships. The brig Tarquinia, with the literary cargo, left the Bay Area and arrived in Olympia in October 23, 1853, a month before Stevens himself arrived via an overland route.

William Robertson

WSL librarian Hazel Mills back in the 1950s was the first to really start digging into the identity of the first ship, but the name of the craft has continually eluded researchers. We do have data on the second ship, the Tarquinia. It was built in Perth Amboy, NJ in 1844, a 90 ft. long two mast square-rigger and at the time of the library transfer was skippered by William Robertson (1809-1888), a native of Norfolk, Virginia, who later became the first lighthouse keeper on Whidbey Island. I find it fitting that the ship’s captain who delivered the first library collection to Washington later became someone who provided illumination for safe passage.

The Tarquinia was under consideration, as it turned out needlessly, by Olympia residents as a place of refuge during the conflicts with the Native Americans in 1856. Later that same year the ship went down in the Sea of Okhotsk while stuck in ice.

WSL still holds 400 titles (800 volumes) of the original Territorial Collection, as well as two globes that made the journey in 1853. Other additional Territorial volumes followed the State Law Library when they split from WSL a little over a century ago. So, hopefully I have presented a worthy research challenge to you marine historians out there. Anyone who can provide evidence of the name of the first ship would be giving WSL a great 160th birthday present!