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The Watch's Wild Cry

A Voyage Aboard the Whaling Vessel Clara Bell
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At the age of nineteen, Robert F. Weir of West Point, New York, ran away to sea, where he spent the next ten years. Assuming the pseudonym Robert Wallace, Weir sailed aboard the bark Clara Bell out of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, in 1855 for a voyage to the whaling grounds of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Upon the death of the boatsteerer, Weir was promoted to his position. Recording daily events aboard ship over the course of nearly three years, 1855-1858, Weir's journal vividly relates the whaleman's life, both in prose and in detailed hand-drawn illustrations. This is a timeless account of life on a nineteenth-century whaler, from the misery of seasickness and the rigors of sea voyages; to the thrill and violence of whale hunts; to the sights, sounds, and foods of foreign cultures. The Weir log is a staff favorite at Mystic Seaport and frequently on display in the Museum for its compelling story, beautiful illustrations, and immaculate penmanship.
Robert F. Weir (1836-1905) earned his living in the various careers of seaman, naval officer, engineer, and freelance artist. His sailing career spanned the better part of a decade, first on whaling cruises and later as a junior engineering officer on the USS Richmond during the Civil War. After the war, he continued to supply freelance illustrations to Harper's Weekly, a practice he began while serving in the Navy, and worked as a civil engineer in New Jersey. Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation's leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America's seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to "inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience." Andrew W. German is former director of Mystic Seaport Museum's Publications Department and coauthor of multiple Mystic/whaling-related books, including America and the Sea: A Maritime History and The Charles W. Morgan: The World's Last Wooden Whaleship. He lives in Mystic, Connecticut.
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