?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
Oliver, Captain Robert Dudley (1766-1850) Handwritten Logbook of HMS Mermaid, January 1, 1800-April 28, 1802. Folio format logbook on hand-ruled laid paper, consisting of approximately 250 unnumbered pages of manuscript entries; drawings of elevations on free endleaves; bound in contemporary canvas, ties intact; nicely preserved, in a custom box, 12 x 8 1/2 in.
The Mermaid was a thirty-gun frigate launched in 1784 and broken up after the end of the War of 1812. During the period covered by the present log, she was on blockade duty off the coast of Spain and in the Mediterranean Sea, busy capturing and destroying hostile vessels, including French, Neapolitan and Spanish merchant ships, working vessels, and privateers. Some of these adventures required sea chases and other forms of maritime attack, and all are recorded in the log. The list of unfortunates appears at the end of the text in a handy chart: List of Vessels Captured & Recaptured by His Majesty's Ship Mermaid since her arrival in the Mediterranean 12th June 1799, which includes sixty-two ships in total. Robert Dudley Oliver eventually rose to the rank of Admiral. A seasoned veteran of the Navy, he shipped alongside Prince William (later King William IV), and travelled to fight in North American waters in 1781. He was present at battles in the West Indies, the English Channel, the North Sea, off the coast of France, and joined Nelson after the Battle of Trafalgar in time to tow home the prizes of war. He joined the crew of the Mermaid in March 1799, serving on the ship until July of 1802. He retired from service in 1814.
