November 17, 2020 Early Arms & Militaria: Age of Exploration, Empire & Revolution
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/17/2020
[United States Navy]: [MANUSCRIPT MASTING AND RIGGING BOOK FOR THE 74-GUN, SHIP-OF-THE-LINE USS NORTH CAROLINA].
[N.p. ca. 1819]. [129] pp. Folio. Contemporary suede spine and marbled boards. Spine perished; boards loose and heavily worn. Contemporary ownership inscription on front pastedown; later bookplate. Internally clean. Good. In a cloth clamshell box, gilt leather label.
A very exciting manuscript work relating to the rigging and fitting out of the ship-of-the-line of the early United States Navy, shortly after the close of the War of 1812. The USS North Carolina was one of nine ships-of-the-line authorized by Congress on 29 April 1816. Her plans were drawn and approved during 1817-1818 and her keel laid at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1818. She was launched on 7 September 1820 and subsequently fitted out for sea service at the Norfolk Navy Yard during 1821. While nominally a 74-gun ship, North Carolina was actually pierced for 102 guns, and probably originally mounted 94 broadside guns, principally 42- and 32-pounders. Considered by many the most powerful naval vessel then afloat, North Carolina served in the Mediterranean as flagship for Commodore John Rodgers from 29 April 1825 to 18 May 1827. In the early days of the Republic, as today, a display of naval might brought a nation prestige and enhanced her commerce. Such was the case as Rodgers' squadron which laid the groundwork for the 1830 commercial treaty with Turkey.
The inside over of this manuscript volume bears the ownership inscription, "Lieut. E.A.F. Vallette / U.S. Navy, Augt. 1, 1817." The manuscript contains descriptions, specifications and uses for, each of the thousands of blocks and other rigging hardware, masts, spars, and lines employed in masting and rigging the warship and her boats. Of seminal importance are three double-page, plans containing the scale lines of the ship's launch and two larger cutters, and four full-page sketches of the ship's two smaller cutters, the quarter boat, and the "giggs." Each drawing includes sails and rigging for such small craft. These are the earliest plans known for U.S. Navy ship's boats and undoubtedly were of the same form as those earlier used during the War of 1812. This work thus presents an unprecedented level of detail relating to the construction and fitting-out of American warships and their boats, previously not encountered for this early period.
Elie Augustus Frederick La Vallette (1790-1862) entered the Navy as a sailing master in 1812. On September 11, 1814, he was an acting lieutenant aboard the corvette Saratoga, the flagship of Commodore Thomas Macdonough at the Battle of Lake Champlain. La Vallette distinguished himself during the battle, winning promotion to lieutenant effective 9 December 1814 and a silver Congressional medal. La Vallette's first command came in June 1817, taking the schooner Despatch on a survey of Virginia's coast and harbors. He was then assigned to and stationed aboard the North Carolina from 1817 to 1822, during which he used this. By 1824, he was 1st lieutenant aboard the USS Constitution and while on duty in the Mediterranean, was acting captain for several months and served on the ship until 1828. Lavallette was promoted to master commandant on March 3, 1831. JLK
Item Dimensions: 14 x 8 - 1/2"