Clement C. Moore, 1863 obit by Frank W. Ballard

Clement C. Moore
via The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Transcribed below is a fine memorial of Clement C. Moore by the New York correspondent of the Boston Post who signed himself "Nor'wester." The death notice and tribute from "Nor'wester" first appeared in the Post on August 17, 1863 and was reprinted anonymously thereafter in other newspapers, for example in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser on August 29, 1863.

Nor'wester was the pseudonym of New York insurance underwriter and journalist Frank W. Ballard (1827-1887), according to an article in the New York Evening Post titled "The People Who Write for the Papers" (reprinted in American Publishers' Circular and Literary Gazette, Volume 6).

 

As shown in a previous post on mid nineteenth-century newspaper correspondents, the same article that identified Ballard as "Nor'wester" also revealed that Melville's friend Henry T. Tuckerman "does up New York literature for the Boston Transcript."

LETTER FROM NEW YORK.

Correspondence of the Boston Post.
NEW YORK, AUGUST 16, 1863.

During that terrible period of excitement, which for years to come will be memorable as the riot week, there appeared one morning, in some of our journals, an announcement of the death at Newport, of one of our wealthiest and once one of our most respected citizens. So far as my knowledge goes not an obituary notice nor the least reference to his death has appeared, and, whether crowded out by the pressure of riot-news, or omitted for other reasons nothing but the bare mention of CLEMENT C. MOORE'S decease has found its way into any of our papers. Thus silently has been permitted to drop out from among us one who was the pioneer, in this country, of Hebrew Lexicography, by the publication in 1809 of a Hebrew and English Lexicon which paved the way literally for the general cultivation of that ancient language and literature in the Theological seminaries of the United States. In 1821, Mr. Moore was appointed "Professor of Biblical Learning" in the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church. Subsequently his professorship became that of "Oriental and Greek Literature." A princely fortune had descended to him, by inheritance, consisting of plats of land by the acre in and about the Sixteenth ward of this city, and much of it lying from Nineteenth street to Twenty-third street between the Ninth and Tenth avenues--now covered with brown stone palaces or business structures erected by capitalists who pay a liberal rent for the ground. While connected with the Theological Seminary, Professor Moore bestowed upon the institution an entire block of this valuable ground. Mr. Moore, (or Dr. Moore, for he was an L. L. D.) was also somewhat celebrated as the author of several lively poems, among which was one which has been mouthed by every schoolboy of the last two generations and annually reproduced in thousands of our papers about Christmas time. This was "A Visit from St. Nicholas," commencing,

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

Few specimens of American poetry have had so long continued popularity as this Christmas poem. All the "Speakers" have included it in their tables of contents and in one form or another it has been published and republished until every line has become as familiar as a household word. During the last holiday season an edition of the poem was brought out by James G. Gregory of this city in luxurious style--the paper, type, illustrations, and tout ensemble displaying a rare combination of good judgment and good taste. Since 1850 Dr. Moore has lived a retired life, but, for what he had previously accomplished, his death, after four score years of usefulness, should not have been suffered to pass unnoticed....
--"Nor'wester" [Frank W. Ballard] in the Boston Post, August 17, 1863.

Boston Post - August 17, 1863 - 1 of 2

Boston Post - August 17, 1863 - 2 of 2

Moore died July 10, 1863 in Newport, Rhode Island. On August 19, 1863, two days after Ballard's letter appeared in the Boston Post, The New York Herald at last featured a substantial obituary headed "Death of Prof. Clement C. Moore, L. L. D."

Ballard's tribute to the late Clement C. Moore was reprinted in the Newport Mercury (Newport, Rhode Island) on August 22, 1863; and in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser on August 29, 1863.

Found on Newspapers.com
Related post:

• New York Herald obit of Clement C. Moore

Philip Hale as "Taverner" in the Boston Post, c. 1890

According to The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography Philip Hale

was engaged by the "Boston Post," in 1890, for which paper he wrote musical criticisms, editorials, and a column called "The Taverner."

In the great Pursuing Melville, 1940-1980, Merton M. Sealts, Jr. identifies "Taverner" as Alexander Young, who died in March 1891. However, ace librarian Charles Ammi Cutter in the Library Journal of September 1891 notes that "Mr. Young was only one of several who wrote in the column over that signature." People evidently assumed that Young was always "Taverner" because so many of his stories wound up in the "Here in Boston" column over that signature. On March 20, 1891 the new "Taverner" Philip Hale mourned the loss of his close friend in gracious terms, crediting Alexander Young as a frequent source of local information and inspiration while disavowing Young's actual authorship.

Found on Newspapers.com

Excerpted in Nathan Haskell Dole's "Boston Letter" dated March 23, 1891, reprinted in The Critic -  March 28, 1891. As later revealed also in the Library Journal, Dole acknowledges multiple authors of the "Here in Boston" column by "Taverner." Alongside Hale's disclosure, Dole honors Young as one member in "a brilliant trinity, quaternity or rather fraternity" of "composite, ubiquitous and genial" men writing over the pseudonym of "Taverner." Besides Alexander Young and Philip Hale, another "contributor to the same column" was Arthur Hooper Dodd (Boston Herald, March 15, 1891).

As corroborated in the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Philip Hale by this time had taken over as the reigning "Taverner." Additional support for Hale's authorship may be seen in the clipping above. The "Music" column signed "PHILIP HALE" immediately follows the "Here in Boston" column of March 20, 1891, in which "TAVERNER" eulogizes his friend and regular source, Alexander Young.

HERE IN BOSTON. The death of so old, so highly valued a friend as Alexander Young was a sharp and painful shock to me. I had known him long and intimately, and ever since I began to write my daily paragraphs in the POST I have drawn deeply on his wit, upon his rare stock of reminiscences, upon his notes on men and things here in Boston, upon his fund of literary information. That my name was associated with his, and that “Taverner” by many persons was considered to be no other than Mr. Young himself—this mistake I have always regarded as a great compliment to myself at the expense, perhaps, of my friend. In his way of life, in his character, he presented so close a resemblance to the ideal Taverner that the real Taverner has been led at times almost to doubt his own identity. 

Mr. Young was one of the kindliest of natures. His friendships were strong and enduring. He was a genial companion whose conversation was brilliant and sparkling, and whose wit was spontaneous and mellow, never harsh and biting. He was an ideal club man, a most delightful diner-out, a courteous gentleman of engaging manner, whose acquaintance was a delight, and whose friendship something to be cherished. He took life in a leisurely way, and while interested and in touch with all the activities of the town, he was never hurried or flurried. He was one of the founders of our Papyrus Club, and was active in bringing about the first meeting at which it was formed. It was he who interested the late N. S. Dodge and Frank Underwood in the movement, and at the first dinner at the old Park’s he added greatly to the pleasure of the occasion by his fund of information concerning the literary clubs of the past. 

It was to Dodge that he made, some time after, that witty remark which I quoted not so very long ago, without mentioning names, apropos of something or other, I’ve forgotten just what. Dodge, at the time president of the Papyrus, was sitting at one of the long tables at the Athenaeum talking with a friend. Young came in and stood at Dodge’s side, waiting for him to finish what he was saying. This disconcerted him and he made a little slip in grammar, which he was about to correct, when Young laid his hand upon his shoulder and said: "Dodge, don’t let the inaccuracies of your writing creep into your conversation.” Dodge looked a trifle stern at first, for the quality of his English, which indeed was fine, was a very tender point with him, but in a moment a smile came over his face and he joined the bystanders in the gentle laugh which Young’s remark had raised. Young’s familiarity with the English classics was notable, and his memory of what he had read remarkable. Of old-time Boston he was full of reminiscences, and I hope that the MS. of the book which I am told he was writing on Old Boston Town, is in condition to be printed. I am sure it will be a most agreeable as well as valuable volume.

...

... TAVERNER

The March 20, 1891 declaration of "Taverner" makes it desirable to revisit the attribution of several "Taverner" items exclusively to Alexander Young. Philip Hale is said in the American History and Encyclopaedia of Music to have started at the Boston Post in 1890. Too late to have contributed the 1889 items, perhaps, although Hale we also know came to Boston in 1889. Hale would take over as "Taverner" soon enough, so possibly he had something to do with at least the second of the two important 1889 items discussed by Sealts in Pursuing Melville, 1940-1980 and The Early Lives of Melville. The first Boston Post item focuses on Melville's South Sea adventures more exclusively than is usual for Hale in his later Melville notices. But in the September 13, 1889 article, references by "Taverner" to his "old friend" echo the 1891 acknowledgement of Alexander Young as "so old, so highly valued a friend." That one about Major Thomas Melville and his wife on Green Street must have been written for the Boston Post by some other "Taverner" than Alexander Young, who is surely the writer's (or collaborating writers'?) "old friend" and extremely knowledgeable informant. If Philip Hale is not yet the official "Taverner," at least he's in the area. We'll have to look for more evidence. Hopefully we can learn if this friendship between Alexander Young and Philip Hale is more than hypothetical.

• Boston Post, September 9, 1889. "Here in Boston" by "Taverner." Calls for re-issue of Omoo and Typee; and a study of Melville's life "in the American Men of Letters series."

Found on Newspapers.com

• Boston Post, Friday, September 13, 1889. "Here in Boston" by "Taverner." The writer and his informant are two different persons. Alexander Young most likely is the "old friend" who remembers Herman Melville's grandparents and their home on Green Street in Boston.

Found on Newspapers.com

Related melvilliana post: Forty Years of Philip Hale on Melville

"Pink" (J. W. Kennedy) and other newspaper correspondents identified

On September 12, 1859 the Boston Post outed professional correspondents of British and American newspapers whose contributions normally appeared over a pseudonym. The revealing letter from New York correspondent "NOW AND THEN" was dated September 10, 1859.

“Newspaper Correspondents.”

Correspondence of the Boston Post.

NEW YORK, SEPT. 10, 1859.

It is a natural curiosity that seeks to know who are the men who act as “our own correspondents” to the out of town press. Shall I name a few? 

First, rather from position and pay than because of any extraordinary pen-power, I would mention the New York correspondent of the London Times, who does up American politics and other heavy writing for the Thunderer. He is J. C. Bancroft Davis, the son of Hon (est) John Davis, and the nephew of the historian Bancroft. Mr. Davis was Secretary of the United States Legation to London when Hon. Abbott Lawrence, of grateful memory, was our Minister to Great Britain. How Mr. Davis secured his present appointment is explained by the circumstance, and by the fact of his being the nephew of his uncle. He succeeds C. Edwards Lester, who received an annual salary of fifteen hundred dollars. It is safe to suppose that the money-mantle of the predecessor has fallen upon the present incumbent of the position. The United States correspondent of the Illustrated London News is Col. Hiram Fuller, formerly of the Evening Mirror, and author of the “Belle Brittan” letters to the Express, and a book of travels yclept “Sparks from a Locomotive.” The Colonel drives a fast quill, with mighty little goose about it. Rev. T. L. Cuyler corresponds regularly with the Weekly Record, an influential London religious paper, and contributes a weekly letter to the New York Christian Intelligencer, the organ of the Dutch Reformed Church. His contributions bear his initials, and are always readable and racy. The New York correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger is A. K. McMillan, one of the editorial staff of the New York Express. He has written a daily letter to the Ledger for about twelve years, and in all that time has never brought the paper into a libel suit or any like difficulty. He deals freely in personalities, and dashes right and left with a well-pointed pen. He made some mischief, however, the other day, it is said, by giving publicity to the fact that an attaché of the Herald establishment was the New York correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer. There were, in connection with the Wise and Donnelly letter, weighty reasons why the secret should not be divulged just at that time. Mac also wrote the spicy “Spectator” letters which appeared in the Buffalo Commercial last winter. He is a lively, genial fellow, has a good style of his own, and can make bricks without straw.

Another genius, sui generis, is Kennedy, the ‘Pink,’ of the Charleston Courier. Kennedy deals largely in small talk, gossip and chit chat, for which he pockets fifteen dollars a week. ‘Pink’ is a sort of man about town, but picks up lots of scandal, which comes back into the columns of our local papers, and is generally found to be news indeed.
The correspondent of Forney’s (Philadelphia) Press some say is Horace Seaver, but I am told “Tom Powell,” of Frank Leslie’s Magazine, is the individual. Powell is quite a literary celebrity, having written a book called “The Living Authors of America,” of some merit. He has also been connected with various newspaper enterprises, such as The Lantern, Figaro and Young Sam—the last having been started to make George Law President. Powell is about fifty years of age writes readable, but not entirely reliable, letters, and enjoys his ‘alf and ‘alf in jolly John Bull style. Col Du Solle, editor-in-chief of the Sunday Times, is the correspondent of the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch. The Colonel is one of the most genial spirits of the New York press, fairly boiling over with wit, and was never known to pen a dull paragraph. He is a good liver, his person is portly, and they say his heart is as big as a balloon. The correspondent of the Richmond Enquirer (as has been before intimated) is Dr. Jones, of the Herald. The Doctor is a solid man, and his letters are somewhat lumpy, but a better informed man is not connected with the press. He was formerly Telegraphic Agent of the Associated Press. He is now the assistant financial and commercial editor of the Herald. He is a man of solid acquirements, fine tastes and genial temperament. “Frank” Abbot is the “Antelope” of the New Orleans Picayune. His letters speak for themselves. H. T. Tuckerman, the popular essayist and true poet, writes the New York letters to the Boston Transcript, as is well known. The man himself and his literary productions are above all praise. The Transcript is fortunate in having him for its friend. “Burleigh,” of the Boston Journal, is ex-Rev. Matthew Hale Smith. His letters are quite gossipy and contain many items of news that reach our own papers first via the Journal. He is frequently quoted, and sometimes contradicted; but he writes a most readable epistle. I may add that he is a thorn in the flesh to the many ministers and churches about whom he gossips eternally in his letters. 

Dwight’s Journal of Music has a good correspondent in Mr. Francis Williams, the musical critic of the New York Post, and the organist of Dr. Chapin’s church. This gentleman is a versatile writer, a genial companion, and full of humor of the juicy sort. A. C. Hills, author of “Matrimonial Brokerage,” writes the “Don Fernando” letters for the Syracuse Standard. Hills is a jolly genius, and delights in visiting and ventilating the out of the way places, such as witch-dens, rapping exhibitions, etc. He is also an attaché of the last named paper. One of the Charleston dailies is well represented here by Mr. J. Bouton, city editor of the Journal of Commerce. Mr. B. is a graceful, ready writer, and a gentleman throughout. Cornelius Matthews (“Puffer Hopkins”) is accredited with the letters from New York to the Saturday Evening Gazette of your city, with how much truth I cannot say. Connolly, who writes the lives of the felons for the Police Bureau, does an extensive business in the newspaper correspondence way. I have heard that he writes regular letters for from fifteen to twenty different papers throughout the country. One cannot help thinking that a brain thus overworked must sometimes “run emptins.” Frank Tuthill, of the Times, does some outside letter writing. His epistolary contributions to the Times are signed “Glaucus.” The Paris correspondent of the same enterprising journal is Dr. Johnston, whose nom de plume “Malakoff,” has been affixed to some capital letters, while the seat of war was unpatched. He resides at Paris, and is now engaged upon a history of the recent Napoleonic farce. The Panama representative of the Times is F. W. Rice, who keeps the paper posted in all Isthmian games, in a series of vigorous and attractive epistles. The foreign letter writer to the Tribune is by some supposed to be the Hungarian patriot Pulszky, spite of the doubts suggested by his signature, “A. P. C.” He goes very deeply into politics et id omne genus, and philosophizes in extra heavy style. 

The best foreign correspondent of any American paper is thought by many to be Rev. James W. Weir, who writes the English correspondence of the Pittsburg Presbyterian Banner. His accounts of religious movements, general occurrences, and revival incidents have been exceedingly well written, and have had considerable circulation as copied from the Banner. 

Our city papers have also a class of contributors who indulge the public with a taste of their quality, and gratify their own cacoethes scribendi, by writing occasional letters to the favorite paper. The best known of them is “E. M.” of the Journal of Commerce. Merriam does the “learned pig” for that otherwise well-conducted paper, and everybody wonders that so keen a man as Gerard Hallock should allow his paper to be made a leaden pipe through which such twaddle may flow. Merriam’s staple is stale astronomical “news,” compilations from newspapers about camphene accidents, with occasionally a rhapsody anent Greenwood or some other equally well dug-out theme.

The Courier and Enquirer has an out-of-town contributor, who is, in the season, its Albany correspondent, and who, as “Sentinel,” furnishes the public through that paper some of the very best letters extant. His name is William H. Bogert. He is a finished scholar, a classic writer, and withal a deep thinker. He resides in Cayuga county, in this State. The Journal of Commerce is occasionally the recipient of some good travelling letters of the sketchy sort from the pen of W. C. Prime, brother of “Irenaeus.” His contributions are signed W., and are quite readable. He is somewhat of a book writer, having been an Oriental explorer. Although not germain to the present subject, I may add that the Boston correspondent of the Tribune is Edmund Quincy, a writer witty but waspish, and a capital hater of the peculiar institution. The “Occasional,” whose Washington letters to the Philadelphia Press are often quoted is generally thought to be J. W. Forney himself, the proprietor of that paper. As you, my dear Colonel, are supposed to know your own business best, I need not say a word about the various epistolary contributors to the wide-awake Boston Post. And here I rest my case. 

NOW AND THEN.

In the following year, the New York Evening Post (Tuesday, August 14, 1860) recycled the story in a compressed version that was picked up by numerous eastern newspapers. Below, the Evening Post version as reprinted in the American Publishers' Circular and Literary Gazette, Volume 6:

THE PEOPLE WHO WRITE FOR THE PAPERS.—Here is a list of newspaper correspondents, rather fuller than the scanty paragraphs our readers have seen going the rounds of the press at odd times. It was printed not long ago in the Boston Post. The first-named are New York correspondents of the respective papers: J. C. Bancroft Davis does American for the London Times at twelve or fifteen hundred dollars a-year. C. Edwards Lester was his predecessor. Hiram Fuller represents us in the Illustrated London News. George Wilkes is engaged to write letters for another English paper. Rev. T. L. Cuyler corresponds with our British brethren through the London Weekly Record. A. K. McMillan writes the daily letter to the Philadelphia Ledger, and has done the same fourteen years. "Pink," of the Charleston Courier, is a Mr. Kennedy. Forney's Press is posted up by Thomas Powell, of Frank Leslie's paper. Colonel Du Solle, of the Sunday Times, is the correspondent of the Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch. Dr. Jones, of the Herald, serves up Gotham, in good style, for the Richmond Enquirer. The "Antelope" letters in the New Orleans Picayune are written by "Frank" Abbott. Henry T. Tuckerman does up New York literature for the Boston Transcript. Rev. Matthew Hale Smith is the "Burleigh" of the Boston Journal. Frank W. Ballard is said to be the "Nor'-wester" of the spicy Boston Post. J. Bouton, of the Journal of Commerce, writes to the Charleston Mercury. A. D. Munson, "Areola," corresponds with several Minnesota papers. Cornelius Mathews ("Puffer Hopkins") is reported to be the correspondent of the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette. W. Francis Williams writes a letter to Dwight's Journal of Music, and A. C. Hills to the Syracuse Standard.

Then there is E. Meriam, who, under his initial, acts as book-keeper or journalizer to the clerk of the weather, and we have also a Mr. Connolly, Clerk to the Police Commissioner, who writes regularly for some fifteen or twenty country papers. Frank Tuthill ("Glaucus") of the Times corresponds, also, for the enlightenment of the rural districts. An initial "W" in the Journal of Commerce stands for W. C. Prime, who ventilates his pencillings by the way through the Wall street journal's columns. "Sentinel," of the Courier and Enquirer, is William H. Bogart, of central New York. The Tribune's Boston correspondent is said to be Edmund Quincy. John W. Forney, himself, is reported to be "Occasional," of the Philadelphia Press. John G. Saxe is "Rambler," of the Boston Post. The "Malakoff" letters to the Times are written by Dr. Johnston, in Paris. The Panama correspondent of the same paper is F. W. Rice. The Tribune's foreign correspondent is thought to be Pulszky, the ci-devant Hungarian hero.—Evening Post.

In The Powell Papers, Hershel Parker gives a bit of the same article from the Vermont Chronicle, September 11, 1860.  Also reprinted in the Plattsburgh [New York] Republican November 10, 1860; and the Albany Evening Journal, November 22, 1860.  About "Tom Powell," the original Boston Post letter from "NOW AND THEN" added:

Powell is quite a literary celebrity, having written a book called “The Living Authors of America,” of some merit. He has also been connected with various newspaper enterprises, such as The Lantern, Figaro and Young Sam—the last having been started to make George Law President. Powell is about fifty years of age, writes readable, but not entirely reliable, letters, and enjoys his ‘alf and ‘alf in jolly John Bull style.  --Boston Post, September 12, 1859

It's good to have fuller lists that allow us now to identify (for instance) the person who wrote this early mention of Bartleby over the signature of "PINK":

Putnam’s Monthly is out before the month has closed, laden with literary merits. There is a freshness and originality about Putnam’s Monthly which makes its appearance always welcome. “Bartleby, the Scrivener, a Story of Wall-street,” is concluded, which is attributed to the pen of Herman Melville, author of “Typee,” “Omoo,” &c. There is a beautiful poem in this number, which could have been written by no one else than Longfellow. The circulation of this sterling periodical is gradually and steadily increasing, affording a fine field for young writers, as well as paying them at a living rate for their contributions. 

--"New-York Correspondence" by "Pink" in the Charleston Courier for December 1, 1853; found in the archives of historical newspapers at Genealogy Bank.

So "Pink" of the Charleston Courier "is a Mr. Kennedy." That would be J. W. Kennedy, as confirmed in The Newspaper Press of Charleston where L. Israels is revealed to be the second New York correspondent for the Courier named "Pink." J. W. Kennedy was Pink #1.

I don't know much more about Kennedy yet, beyond his real name. The prior article in the Boston Post described his job as a collector of "small talk" and "scandal," and revealed to the world   the amount of his weekly pay:

Another genius, sui generis, is Kennedy, the ‘Pink,’ of the Charleston Courier. Kennedy deals largely in small talk, gossip and chit chat, for which he pockets fifteen dollars a week. ‘Pink’ is a sort of man about town, but picks up lots of scandal, which comes back into the columns of our local papers, and is generally found to be news indeed.

Related post:

• H. T. Tuckerman ("Knick") in the Boston Evening Transcript 

Whaling in the Straits of Timor

Whaling in the Straits of Timor, a first-hand narrative of adventure on a London whaler, was published in the April 1859 issue of The Knickerbocker magazine.

A British newspaper erroneously credited Herman Melville with the authorship of "Whaling in the Straits of Timor," introducing excerpts from the story under the heading "A Massacre of Whales":

A recent number of the “Knickerbocker, or New York Merchant’s Magazine,” contains the following interesting description of a whale hunt, which we may undoubtedly attribute to the versatile and graphic pen of Mr. Herman Melville, whose talents in describing such scenes are unequalled:—  (Luton Times and Advertiser, May 7, 1859)

The transparently and uniformly cheerful style of the piece is nothing like Moby-Dick, but five times the captain of the whale-ship "Diana" addresses the narrator as "Melville."

It was eight bells, (noon,) and I was about descending into the half-deck to dinner, when Captain Hunter called me to him, and said: ‘Melville, I want you to go aloft, and take a long look and strong look for whales; the chaps at the mast-heads I think are all asleep, they are so quiet. I would almost swear there are whales in sight, for I can smell them. Look sharp to windward.’

The reason he selected me, was my luck. I had seen three-fourths of the whales during the voyage; and the ship now only required a couple of hundred barrels to fill up. It was therefore conceded fore and aft that I had the best eyes in the ship. Five bottles of rum had been won by me in succession for having seen whales. . . . (351-352)

In the Index to volume 53 of The Knickerbocker (January-June 1859), the author of "Whaling in the Straits of Timor" is identified as Duncan McLean.

WorldCat likewise names Duncan McLean as the author.

On May 23, 1859 The Boston Traveler reprinted McLean's story as a "spirited description of sperm-whaling incidents" from "the time when whales were more plentiful than at present, and before the invention of bomb-lances and whaling-guns." 

The month before Whaling in the Straits appeared, The Knickerbocker published an article by McLean titled "Seamanship of the Atlantic Monthly.”

Its author, Duncan McLean, asserts that an article called “Men of the Sea,” from the January 1859 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, which describes sailors as degraded, was written out of inexperience, ignorance, and stupidity. His own assertion that “the seamen of our day have not degenerated” seems more in keeping with publications such as Harper’s and Leslie’s, where the activities of ships and sailors are extolled rather than bemoaned. -- Jill B. Gidmark, Encyclopedia of American Literature of the Sea

Not much is known about Duncan McLean. Or rather, not much is remembered. McLean the author of "Seamanship" was from Boston, according to the Springfield Republican (March 5, 1859). Presumably then he is the same Duncan McLean who wrote letters to the Boston Traveler on behalf of a "Sewing Teacher of the Adams School" from his residence at No. 96 Princeton street, East Boston" (Boston Traveler, September 27, 1865).

Published in the month before Herman Melville's death, the Boston Herald article "Father Neptune's Visit" records the reminiscences of a "Capt. Duncan McLean" on the nautical traditions connected with Crossing the Line:

In old times, when most ships crossed the equator, Neptune and his suite came on board and shaved the greenhorns—those who had not crossed it before,. But this ancient ceremony, like the “shells” who invented it, has passed away, never, perhaps to be revived. As late as 60 years ago, it was quite common, and has been frequently described by nautical writers.

“The last time I crossed the line, outward bound,” said Capt. Duncan McLean the other day, “I belonged to a sperm whaler, when sperm whaling was in the zenith of its glory, and sperm oil brought $1 a gallon. . ." --Boston Herald, August 9, 1891; found in the Newspaper Archives at Genealogy Bank.

On Sunday, October 18, 1896 McLean's obituary appeared in the Worcester Daily Spy:

DEATH OF DUNCAN McLEAN.

Boston, Oct. 17.—Duncan McLean, the well known journalist, died today, aged 85 years. Capt. McLean’s death occurred at his residence, 119 Princeton street, East Boston.

Duncan McLean was born in Kirkwall, Orkney, one of the scenes of Sir Walter Scott’s “Pirate,” on Oct. 14, 1811, and was a sailor in early life. He used to swim with Oliver Wendell Holmes. He was particularly well known as a writer of sea stories and as a ship editor. He had an interest in several newspaper enterprises. 

So now we can supply dates for the life of Melville's contemporary Duncan McLean (1811-1896).

The Boston Herald obituary confirms that Duncan “was well known in newspaper circles" and adds:

... he was actually the oldest newspaper man in this city. He was born in Kirkwell, Orkney, Scot., Oct. 14, 1811.

Deceased went to sea at an early age. He acquired a fund of nautical information. He had charge of the shipping department of the Boston Post when it was under Col. Greene’s management. He subsequently purchased an interest in the Boston Atlas. When the Atlas and various other papers were joined to the Traveler, McLean took charge of the shipping and commercial departments of that paper, and remained with it 30 years. 

He leaves two daughters and a son. (Boston Herald, October 18, 1896)

In a speech on “Old Time Editors,” Benjamin F. Stevens remembered McLean and his contributions to Boston journalism:

The Atlas was, besides its strong political views, a thoroughly excellent newspaper, as were the others of that day. It was especially noted for its ship news—a portion of the paper conducted in the forties by the late Duncan McLean, a thorough-going Scotchman of genuine worth as a writer as well as a gatherer of news. --Boston Herald, Sunday, January 31, 1897

The Boston Journal on Saturday, October 17, 1896 provides a long detailed tribute in the Mortuary Notice for Duncan McLean. Among other fascinating facts, the Journal obituary reveals that McLean wrote nautical tales "over the nom de plum of Capt Oakum."

After a break, we will give the whole tribute from the Journal in another post.

Related post:

• Duncan McLean, Sailor - Newspaper Man
  https://melvilliana.blogspot.com/2014/07/duncan-mclean-sailor-newspaper-man.html