American Historical Ephemera & Photography

8 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 3/4 in., quarter blue linen and marbled boards, housing a thin, double-sided slate blackboard framed in walnut. Inscribed in ink on the reverse of the front board "Bought Jan. 4th 1864" and "James K. Pritchard / Newbury Port Mass / 'Fear Not.'" Front of blackboard with chalk inscription at top "Dec 20 [1864]" and "2-45 pm Highland light." Verso with chalk inscription at top "21 December 1864 at 1am." Additional inscription on both sides records cruising data and chronological events onboard the ship which were presumably entered into the ship's deck log and then subsequently erased from the slate board. 

Captain James Knapp Pritchard of Newburyport, MA, was a master mariner hailing from a seafaring family. The 1860 US Federal Census identifies Pritchard as a mariner and his father as a rigger. The History of the Marine Society of Newburyport, Massachusetts published in 1906 indicates that Pritchard joined the Marine Society in November 1863, and that he was lost overboard 22 December 1864, aged 31 years, while in command of the ship Elcano which was enroute from Boston to Calcutta. This date coincides with the dates on the slate (Dec 20 and 21, 1864), seemingly indicating that the slate may have been preserved for Pritchard’s family following his death. According to a ship log from the Elcano, Captain James Pritchard was washed overboard and drowned on the second day out of the port of Boston. The slate references “Highland Light” as a landmark. This Cape Cod lighthouse would have presumably been a day or two sail from the port of Boston, thereby bolstering the connection to the Elcano not just by date but also by ship location.

Condition of boards and slate generally good, though the chalk inscription on one side is extremely faint in places so as to be nearly indecipherable. Slate housed in a cloth folding case with label that inaccurately describes the item as a slate deck log from the Civil War Blockade Shipp USS Fear Not.  

A scarce and unique piece of maritime history associated with one of the great New England ports.