The voyages of Capt. W. W. Burgess, 1854-1885

Capt. Burgess used his 19th century logbooks to describe his sailing career. He went to sea as a lad of 16 but quickly rose to first mate and then to command vessels while still a young man. His trips around treacherous Cape Horn in the "nitrate trade" (gathering guano off Chile), to booming San Francisco, rough-and-tumble Honolulu and exotic Hong Kong, barely surviving tropical fevers in the Bight of Benin off Africa's west coast - survived mutiny and brushes with would-be pirates. Capt. Burgess was born 1838 at the lighthouse tended by his father on the Gurnet, guarding the entrance to the harbor at Plymouth, Mass. In between the often dangerous trips there were peaceful interludes: train trips from New York to Boston to Plymouth to spend relaxing weeks with his family . . . a summer away from the "tall ships," skippering a catboat as a party boat for summer visitors to Plymouth.