(MARITIME) Dreadful Shipwreck of the Brig Victoria and Pitia

Sale 2546 - Lot 142

Price Realized: $ 531

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

(MARITIME.) Dreadful Shipwreck of the Brig Victoria, and Pitiable Condition of her Crew and Passengers. Illustrated broadside, 15 x 10 1/4 inches; horizontal fold, minimal foxing and wear; uncut. [London]: Paul & Co., Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, circa 1840s

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Recounts a horrific tale of starvation and cannibalism in the North Atlantic aboard the remnants of a wrecked ship. Upon the death of a female passenger, the others drank her blood and then "were compelled to distribute the flesh of the deceased among the famishing survivors." Five others met a similar fate before the ship was rescued. Curiously, this account is based very closely on an authentic account from November 1822, but several key details have been changed. The original story in the Carlisle Patriot of 23 November 1822 recounted the trials of the brig George under Captain John M'Alpin, bound from Quebec to Greenock, Scotland; it was soon circulated widely in sources such as the Glasgow Herald of two days later, and the 1822 Annual Register. In this broadside the brig is now the Victoria, the captain is simply John Alpin, and the port of origin is Ohio, but the great bulk of the narrative is offered verbatim. The printers have added an apparently original poem on the wreck titled "A Copy of Verses," and a large wood engraving. It is undated, but the printers were active at this address in the early 1840s. None others traced in OCLC.