What’s New?
- Biographies: Jamaica Kincaid, Marilyn Nelson, Clifford Ashley, Sylvia Earle, and Phillis Wheatley
- Audio: Harriet Beecher Stowe's The Pearl of Orr’s Island
- Video: Derek Walcott reads "Sea Grapes"
- Featured Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Tag Archives: Exploration
Ballou, Maturin Murray (“Lieut. Murray,” “Frank Forester”)
by Mary Malloy (2000) [BALLOU, MATURIN MURRAY], “LIEUT. MURRAY,” “FRANK FORESTER” (1820-1895). An influential publisher of American periodicals, Maturin Murray Ballou was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He traveled extensively and entered the literary world by writing descriptive letters of his Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Journalism, Nonfiction
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Porter, David
by Udo Nattermann (2000) PORTER, DAVID (1780-1843). The son of a veteran of the American Revolution, David Porter was born in Boston and grew up in Baltimore. He began his naval career as a midshipman in 1798 and became master commandant Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Yang, Jeffrey
by Jaehyun Jeong (2015) YANG, JEFFREY (1974-) Jeffrey Yang is an American poet, translator, and editor best known for his books of poetry An Aquarium (2008) and Vanishing-Line (2011). Born in Escondido, California, Yang attended the University of California San Diego. With an initial interest Continue reading text links
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Tagged 21st Century, Atlantic Ocean, audio, Exploration, Middle Passage and Enslavement, Pacific Ocean, Poetry, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, Science/Nature, video
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Wilkes, Charles
by Jason Smith (2013) WILKES, CHARLES (1798-1877). Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, hydrographer, and writer. He commanded the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838 to 1842, wrote its five-volume Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition (1844), edited the expedition’s Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Pacific Ocean, Science/Nature, Whaling/Sealing
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Symmes, John Cleves, “Captain Adam Seaborn”
by Richard J. King [SYMMES, JOHN CLEVES], “CAPTAIN ADAM SEABORN” (1780-1829). Some scholars believe that “Captain Adam Seaborn,” the author of this fictional, first-person narrative, is the pseudonym of army officer and amateur geographer Captain John Cleves Symmes (1780-1829). Symmes Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction
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Smith, John
by R. D. Madison (2000) SMITH, JOHN (1580-1631). Although born in Lincolnshire, England, Captain John Smith initiated many traditions in American literature, among them geography, autobiography, and history. A True Relation (1608), his earliest account of his experiences in the Chesapeake Continue reading text links
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Tagged 17th Century, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, Nonfiction
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Reynolds, J. N.
by Peter F. deCataldo (2000) REYNOLDS, J[EREMIAH]. N. (1799?-1858). Details of the life of J. N. Reynolds are sketchy, and his lingering reputation today is mainly the result of his influence upon major works of Edgar Allan Poe (The Narrative of Continue reading text links
Norris, Frank
by Donald Yannella (2000) NORRIS, [BENJAMIN] FRANKLIN] (1870-1902). Although his short life was adventurous enough, including trips to Africa’s Transvaal and Cuba during the Spanish-American War, Frank Norris’ disposition to set two of his less successful novels partly at sea probably Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Arctic, Exploration, Fiction, Fishing, Pacific Ocean, Passenger Travel, Whaling/Sealing
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Morrell, Benjamin
by Haskell Springer (2000) MORRELL, BENJAMIN (1795-1839). Benjamin Morrell, sealing captain and explorer, was born in Rye, New York, the son of a shipbuilder. His early experiences included being twice captured by the British during the War of 1812 and spending Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Antarctic, Atlantic Ocean, Exploration, Nonfiction, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, Whaling/Sealing
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Morrell, Abby Jane
by Haskell Springer (2000) MORRELL, ABBY JANE [WOOD] (1809-l???). The cousin and second wife of Captain Benjamin Morrell, Abby Jane Wood married the captain when she was fifteen. She accompanied him on the last of his four voyages of commerce and Continue reading text links
Jennings Jr., John Edward (“Bates Baldwin”)
by Debra Glabeau (2000) [JENNINGS, JOHN EDWARD, JR], “BATES BALDWIN” (1906-1973). John Edward Jennings Jr., historical novelist, was born in Brooklyn, New York. The son of a surgeon, he began his seafaring in 1925 as a foremast hand aboard a Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
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Howells, William Dean
by Udo Nattermann (2000) HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN (1837-1920). A native of Ohio, William Dean Howells began to work in his father’s printing shop at age nine. A self-taught student of languages and literature, he early entered a career in journalism. After Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Journalism, Plays, Poetry
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Hemingway, Ernest Miller
by Bickford Sylvester (2000) HEMINGWAY, ERNEST MILLER (1899-1961). Ernest Hemingway, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (1952) and the Nobel Prize in literature (1954), grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Except when rough water forced them to go by Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Caribbean, Exploration, Fiction, Fishing, Great Lakes, Nonfiction, Short Story, video
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Henson, Matthew
by Emma Bonanomi (2021) MATTHEW ALEXANDER HENSON (1866-1955) was a Black American explorer who came to fame after United States Navy Commander Robert E. Peary’s 1908-1909 expedition to the North Pole. He may have been one of the first men Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Arctic, Exploration, First-person narrative, Merchant Marine, Race/Ethnicity and the Sea, Whaling/Sealing
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Hayden, Sterling
by James F. Millinger (2000) HAYDEN, STERLING [RELYEA WALTER] (1916-1986). Born in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, Sterling Hayden quit school at sixteen to join the crew of a sailing ship. He served as seaman aboard fishing vessels and sailing ships Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fishing, Multimedia/Multimodal, Navy/Coast Guard
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Harlow, Frederick Pease
by Glenn Grasso HARLOW, FREDERICK PEASE (1856-1952). Frederick Pease Harlow was born in Mount Morris, Illinois, on 12 December 1856. He was the youngest son of Frances Ann Winsor and William T. Harlow, an educator and Methodist minister originally from Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Caribbean, Exploration, First-person narrative, Multimedia/Multimodal
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Hains, Thornton Jenkins (“Captain Mayn Clew Garnett”)
by Bert Bender (2000) [HAINS, THORNTON JENKINS], “CAPTAIN MAYN CLEW GARNETT” (1866-1953). Named for his maternal grandfather, Admiral Thornton Jenkins, U.S.N., Thornton Jenkins Hains had a career of indefinite length as a working seaman and was licensed in both England Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Short Story
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Fanning, Edmund
by Michael P. Dyer (2000) FANNING, EDMUND (1769-1841). Captain Edmund Fanning of Stonington, Connecticut, was the younger brother of naval officer Nathaniel Fanning. In a memorial to the U.S. Congress in 1833, Edmund Fanning urged the legislature to support funding Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Exploration, First-person narrative, Navy/Coast Guard, Whaling/Sealing
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Delano, Amasa
by James L. Gray (2000) DELANO, AMASA (1763-1823). Amasa Delano, whose Voyages and Travels (1817) was the source for Herman Melville’s “Benito Cereno” (1855), was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts. After serving briefly in the Continental army during the American Revolution, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Exploration, First-person narrative, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, War
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Carse, Robert
by Donald P. Curtis (2000) CARSE, ROBERT (1902-1971). A Great Lakes sailor at seventeen, Robert Carse later worked salt water, attaining the position of chief mate. He sailed most of the world and developed a reputation as an expert seaman Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Children's Writing, Exploration, Fiction, Great Lakes, Maritime History, Short Story
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Bryant, William Cullen
by Joseph Flibbert (2000) BRYANT, WILLIAM CULLEN (1794-1878). William Cullen Bryant was born and raised in the back country of western Massachusetts, where an early talent for versifying displayed in religious, sentimental, and satiric poems culminated in the publication in Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Journalism, Passenger Travel, Poetry
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Brackenridge, Henry Marie
by Philip Barnard (2000) BRACKENRIDGE, HENRY MARIE (1786-1871). Henry Marie Brackenridge, writer, lawyer, legislator, and diplomat, was born in Pittsburgh, the son of well-known writer and jurist Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Most of Brackenridge’s career was devoted to legal work and Continue reading text links
Bowditch, Nathaniel
by Daniel Finamore (2000) BOWDITCH, NATHANIEL (1773-1838). Mathematician, navigator, and astronomer, Nathaniel Bowditch authored the book that since 1802 has been the standard reference for celestial navigators worldwide. Schooled only to age ten, Bowditch taught himself mathematics and several foreign Continue reading text links
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Tagged 18th Century, 19th Century, Children's Writing, Exploration, Nonfiction, Science/Nature
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Bishop, Elizabeth
by Hugh Egan (2000) BISHOP, ELIZABETH (1911-1979). Elizabeth Bishop, American poet for whom the coastlines of North and South America served as powerful sources of inspiration, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father died when she was eight months old, Continue reading text links
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Tagged 20th Century, Coastal Life, Exploration, Immigration, Poetry
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Barker, Benjamin
by Dean DeFino (2000) BARKER, BENJAMIN (1817-18??). Beyond birth records in Salem, Massachusetts, the only documents that survive of Benjamin Barker are twenty short novels published under that name between 1845 and 1847 and one in 1855. Those with authors’ Continue reading text links
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Tagged 19th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Piracy, Science Fiction, Short Story
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Baldwin, Bates (John Edward Jennings, Jr.)
Posted in B
Tagged 20th Century, Exploration, Fiction, Maritime History, Navy/Coast Guard, Nonfiction, Short Story
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