I will be listing some select Old Ephemera Items this month, including a group of nice California Gold Rush and Whaling Ship Letters from an old Freetown, MA family. Here is a Great 3-PAGE LETTER BEGUN ON AUG. 18, 1849 WRITTEN BY H.N. CUMMINGS to a REV. JOHN CHASE OF FREETOWN, MA DOCUMENTING CUMMINGS VOYAGE FROM NEW BEDFORD, MA to SAN FRANCISCO, CA WITH A GREAT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONDITIONS AND FRENETIC ACTIVITIES AT SAN FRANCISCO AT THE END OF LETTER. The letter is HEADED BY A WONDERFUL INK SKETCH OF THE ISLAND OF TRINIDAD AS VIEWED FROM HIS SHIP which he passed on the way to California. This is one of a group of 1840s-50\'s California Gold Rush and Whaling Ship letters from an old Freetown, MA estate I am listing this week.
Excerpts from the letter read as follows:
\"Pacific Ocean. Aug. 18th \'49. Mr. C.. Dear Sir, ....supposing it might be pleasing to you to have a slight sketch of our passage from New Bedford to San Francisco; I will commence by saying that I am aware that it requires magnanimity to give you a magnificant one; but will endeavor to make what I do write manifest...We sailed the 6th of Mar. & the 2nd day out we took a gale of wind from the N.W. which was fair & propelled us along about 200 miles a day until the 14th, then it moderated some & during the gale the sq. sail yard broke twice. 18th we spoke the Barque R. Adams of Boston...Apr.17th we passed the Island of Trinidad & it was a majestic sight to behold those magisterial peaks lifting their towering heads far above the clouds with here & there a patch of woodland. 30th we carried away our flying jibboon but did not lose it; it was blowing a living gale & knocked our bulwarks in forward & aft. May 7th we carried away our main top mast. The 24th about 1/2 past 10 in the forenoon we entered the Straits of Magellan and we were in the Straits 13 days, it was a beautiful scenery all the way through, & we went ashore several times but did not see any natives...(June)27th we got under way & put to sea in a gale of wind because the Capt. got mad....Aug. 3rd in the evening about 10 we saw a whale ship about 1/2 a mile to the leward laying too under reefed topsails. 4th we saw two sails & some whales; also caught one porpess...we spoke the Ship Elizabeth Ellen of N.Y., she sailed the 16th of Feb.. The 16th of Sept we spoke the Ship Loochoo of Boston from N. York, it was about one o\'clock when we spoke her & we were just a going into the entrance of San Francisco harbour & she told us that the Schooner ahead of us was the Fremont of N.B., she got in a few hours before us, There was lying at anchor in the Port about 3 hundred sail from the four parts of the earth. This day the 17th I have been on shore & I must say that I never begun to see the stir in N.B. that there is here, business is first rate & wages very high & a man will hardly turn round short of $100 dollars, A man came on board this morning & offered a dollar & hour for a many hours as we were a mind to work. You may go into the offices or even a tin shop & you will see hundreds & even thousands of dollars lying on the counters in heaps, Yesterday 18 vessels came into the harbour & this afternoon 13 more, we expect to go up the Sacramento this afternoon. The laws are very good, if a man strikes another it is a $500 fine, & the 2nd offence he has his ears cropped off & for the 3rd he is strung up by the neck, & it is so peaceable here that you can lay any thing down on the ground & in two days after find it where you left it, clothing & c, is laying about the ground under foot. I have seen a good many thousands dollars worth of it already. I must now close, Yours truly, H.N. Cummings\"
Superb California Gold Rush Era letter. There are a number of other places and Islands they passed and stopped on that are mentioned on the way to CA. He gives a number of specific Lat./Long. figures during the trip as well as using nautical ship language, so it\'s possible he may have had something to do with the ship\'s navigation? Not sure which ship he was sailing on- perhaps some of the dates and places can help one figure that out. A very interesting impression of the city as being \"so peaceable\" and the incredible honesty he mentions in San Francisco during the height of the Gold Rush. He may have been a resident of New Bedford according the reference in letter (\"N.B.\") or nearby Freetown, MA where letter is addressed to. I have not researched the letter\'s author or recipient myself. The folded letter has a 40-cent handwritten postage with \"Sacramento. Sept. 30\" written on stampless cover side. Letter front is 10-9/16\" x 8-1/4\".
Condition: There is a torn off bottom corner of the rear page with some of the letter content on the torn off piece, but the separated piece is all there (see photos). Will ship letter flat as you see it and boxed with care for buyer. INSURANCE INCLUDED in the shipping total.

Massachusetts buyers pay the 6.25% sales tax.Look for my other great Gold Rush and Whaling Ship Letters from same estate I will be listing as well. See listing for payment and shipping details. Feel free to email me with any questions. Thanks for looking!