Author: GUNSON, NIEL; Editor.
Title: The Dalton Journal. Two Whaling Voyages To The South Seas 1823-1829.
Description: First Edition; Cr. 4to; pp. xii, 140; illustrated endpapers, 12 illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index, bound in original maroon cloth with title lettered in gilt on spine and front board, inlay of scrimshaw on front board, a fine copy. Canberra; National Library Of Australia; 1990. "The Journal has several claims for attention: it is a rare British account of whaling activities in the South Seas, a field much dominated by the preponderance of American journals; it provides an interesting eyewitness account of the death of the great circumnavigator Captain James Cook R.N. recalled by a group of elderly Hawaiians; it records the discoveries of Phoenix Island and Canton Island, the last pieces of the jigsaw for the record of 19th century discoveries; and finally, and most importantly, the Journal throws new light on the opening up of the Pacific to missionary activity, to European settlement and to commercial exploration."

Keywords: Australian literary maritime history whaling Oceania diaries Dalton 1823-1829 Australia