UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 27, Page 5
April 16, 1992
Library exhibition features early exploration by sea

     "Two Hundred Years Before the Mast:Sea Voyages of the 18th and
19th Centuries," an exhibition of books, manuscripts and maps
examining European and American exploration by sea from 1700-1900, is
on view now through July 31 at the Special Collections Exhibition
Gallery in the Hugh M. Morris Library on the University of Delaware's
Newark campus.
     A variety of materials highlighting sea voyages in the 18th and
19th centuries are on display, including published accounts and
reports, printed and manuscript journals, logs and memoirs, charts and
maps, scientific and historical treatises, and fictional narratives.
     The 500th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage to the Western
Hemisphere has stimulated awareness, reflection and reinterpretation
of the importance and meaning of the event, producing much valuable
scholarship in the Columbus expeditions and subsequent voyages of
exploration.
     By the end of the 17th century, exploration by sea had revealed
nearly all of the coastal regions of the Western Hemisphere. While
voyages around the world and the search for the elusive passage
through the Arctic Sea remained the objects of sailing expeditions,
the focus and emphasis of sea voyages shifted to other objectives in
succeeding centuries, including scientific, anthropological and
diplomatic.
     "Two Hundred Years Before the Mast" highlights sea voyages of
exploration, adventure and enterprise in the 18th and 19th centuries
as the second phase of sea travel following the two centuries of
exploration after Columbus.
     Materials on display reflect various aspects of sea voyages and
their impact on contemporary Western society between 1700 and 1900.
     The exhibition includes

     * collections of voyage accounts that preserved and interpreted
documents relating to historical and contemporary sea explorations,
such as Alexander Dalrymple's An Historical Collection of the Several
Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (London, 1769), and
John Reinhold Forster's History of the Voyages and Discoveries Made in
the North(London, 1786);

     * exploration of the South Seas, such as John Marra's Journal of
the Resolution's Voyage...on Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere
(London, 1774) and Thomas Jefferson Jacobs' Scenes, Incidents and
Adventures in the Pacific Ocean(New York, 1844);

     * exploration of an arctic passage to the East, such as Henry
Ellis' A Voyage to Hudson's-Bay(London, 1748) and A.E. Nordenskiold's
The Voyage of the Vega Round Asia and Europe(London, 1886);

     * voyages around the world, such as Edward Cooke's A Voyage to
the South Sea, and Round the World(London, 1712) and Fregatten
Eugenies Resa Omkring Jorden (Stockholm, 1854), an account of the
first Swedish circumnavigation;

     * scientific expeditions, such as accounts of Charles Darwin's
travels on the Beagle, 1831-36;

     * narratives of personal adventure on the high seas, such as
Nathaniel Uring's A History of the Voyages and Travels of Capt.
Nathaniel Uring(London, 1726) and Richard Henry Dana Jr.'s popular Two
Years Before the Mast(New York, 1840); and

     * fictional accounts and literary works inspired by contemporary
sea voyages, such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (London,
1726) and Herman Melville's Omoo:A Narrative of Adventures in the
South Seas(New York and London, 1847).

     The Special Collections Exhibition Gallery is open from 9 a.m.-5
p.m., Mondays through Fridays and until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.
     For more information, write or call Susan Brynteson, director of
libraries, University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE 19717-5267,
telephone 831-2231.