White Jacket in Fredonia

Fredonia Censor - July 30, 1850 via fultonhistory.com

Under the heading "Weathering Cape Horn," the Fredonia, New York Censor reprinted all of chapter 24 in Herman Melville's White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War (1850). The piece is formally credited to Melville's narrative persona "White Jacket." The Fredonia Censor was then owned and edited by Willard McKinstry.

WEATHERING CAPE HORN.

BY WHITE JACKET.

And now, through drizzling fogs and vapors, and under damp, double-reefed top-sails, our wet-decked frigate drew nearer and nearer to the squally Cape.

Who has not heard of it? Cape Horn, Cape Horn—a horn indeed, that has tossed many a good ship. Was the descent of Orpheus, Ulysses, or Dante into Hell, one whit more hardy or sublime than the first navigator’s weathering of that terrible Cape? ....