American Historical Ephemera and Photography

Scrapbook, 36pp, 8 x 9 1/2 in., identified to "S. Samuels" on front flyleaf and "Samuels, 1871" on rear pastedown. Contains a mix of newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, and handwritten notations, all related to Samuels's career as a captain and with emphasis on racing (conditions vary, scrapbook is heavily worn especially at spine, adhesive residue and discoloration throughout the scrapbook and particularly affecting newspaper clippings).

[With:] Photographs, including: undated CDV standing portrait of a sophisticated and dapper gentleman, identified in modern blue ink on verso as "Capt Samuels," with backmark of Charles D. Fredericks & Co. of New York. -- An undated cabinet card of an older gentleman in coat and hat, identified in modern blue ink on verso as "Capt Samuels," with backmark of Fredericks' Knickerbocker Family Portrait Gallery. -- Hand-painted portrait on milk glass identified on verso on modern label "Capt Samuels first wife." -- A glass plate negative housed in manilla sleeve identified as "Capt Samuels." -- A contemporary copy photograph identified in pencil on verso as "'Wallace' / copied from a Daguerre-o-type of dog in picture of the 'Dreadnought.'" -- Several miscellaneous cabinet cards featuring outdoor views and negatives.

[With:] Manuscript letter, 139 Broadway [New York?], 15 September [1864?], instructing Captain Samuels to "Sell the 'Dreadnought' for $25,000." -- "Calling card plate engraved at center "S.Samuels."-- A calling card for "Capt. S. Samuels" featuring a sidewheel ship at bottom right. -- Two postcards featuring the "Clipper Ship Dreadnought, Built in Newburyport, Mass. / Made the fastest run from New York to Queenstown in in nine days and seventeen hours, a record that has never been equalled."

[Also with:] Color "Map of Santo Domingo, compiled from various official Sources, showing the Domain of the Samana Bay Company...." New York: March 1873 (rolled, heavy wear, losses, creasing). -- "Dominican Republic. Report of The Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo, with the Introduction Message of the President...." Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871. Inscribed "With compliments of / Col. John Hay / To / Capt S. Samuels."-- Staple-bound pamphlet, "In the department of State, May 11th, 1889. Claim of the Samana Bay Company of Santo Domingo Against the Dominican Government." 48pp, with various reprinted documents identifying Samuels as a party to proceedings of the Samana Bay Company.

Samuel Samuels was commander of the fastest sailing ships of his era. The Newburyport Clipper Ship Museum's biography of Captain Samuel Samuels states: "He shipped as cabin-boy on a coasting-vessel at the age of eleven, studied navigation on shipboard, and after many voyages became at twenty-one captain of a merchantman, he commanded for several years the 'Dreadnought,' the fastest of the sailing-packets. Captain Samuel Samuels who claimed with authority for the statement that she was never passed in anything over a four-knot breeze...In 1863-‘4 he was captain of the United States steamship 'John Rice.' In 1864 he was general superintendent of the quartermaster’s department in New York city, having charge of the repairing, victualling, and dispatching of vessels. In 1865 he commanded the 'McClellan' at the taking of Fort Fisher. He was captain of the 'Fulton,' the last of the American packet-steamers between New York and Havre in 1866, and in the winter commanded the 'Henrietta' yacht in her race from New York to Southampton, in 1870 the yacht 'Dauntless' in her race with the 'Cambria' from Queenstown to New York, making the voyage in twenty-one days, and again in 1887 in her race across the Atlantic with the 'Coronet.' Samuels was captain of James Gordon Bennett Jr.‘s yachts 'Henrietta' and 'Dauntless' in famous races in 1866 (Great Ocean Yacht Race), 1870 and 1887. After his 1866 win, Bennett bought the rival yacht, the 'Fleetwing,' for $65,000....In 1872 he organized the Samana bay company of Santo Domingo with a quasi-understanding that the United States government should acquire a part of the bay as a naval station. He was granted a concession by the Dominican executive, which was confirmed by a plebiscite, and took possession in March 1873, but in 1874 was expelled by the new government. In 1876 he organized the Rousseau electric signal company and introduced the English system of interlocking switches and signals. He was general superintendent in 1878-‘9 of the Pacific mail steamship company at San Francisco, California, and in 1881 he organized the United States steam heating and power company in New York city."