Rauner Special Collections Finding Aids

CHRONOLOGY

This chronology, with the exception of the entries for the three books that Bartlett wrote, and the following one of the voyages of the Effie M. Morrissey are from George Palmer Putnam's Mariner of the North: The Life of Captain Bob Bartlett, New York, 1947.

THE VOYAGES OF THE MORRISSEY

In fame, in distance covered, probably no other vessel of today used solely for exploratory voyaging can rival the schooner Effie M. Morrissey. It is therefore of interest to present a chronological record of her voyages with Captain Bartlett.

Beyond her early work in the fisheries off Newfoundland, there were, after her purchase in 1925, twenty separate cruises from New York, where Bartlett made his headquarters. No one of these covered less than 6000 miles, many approximated 10,000, and one exceeded 20,000 miles. In all, the Morrissey must have traveled well over 150,000 miles, to many far places in the North, under the auspices of many different groups, for many purposes. This, without taking into account all the blue water she traversed in the twenty-five years when she was fishing out of Gloucester.

The chronology that follows is made from Captain Bartlett's own records, and has been compared with other available sources, and checked by members of the Bartlett family, especially by Rupert Bartlett of St. John's.

INTRODUCTION

These papers of Robert Abram (Bob) Bartlett consist of correspondence, two inscribed books, typescripts of three radio talks, and a few miscellaneous papers from the latter half of Bartlett's long career of Arctic sailing and exploration. Bartlett, born into a family of Newfoundland mariners in 1875, began sailing before he finished high school and completed his last cruise in 1945, just months before his death in 1946. After his early years of sealing, he commanded Robert E. Peary's Roosevelt and Vilhjlamur Stefansson's Karluk. In 1925 he acquired his own schooner, the Effie M. Morrissey, which he took on Arctic expeditions of one sort or another every year until he died.

During the depression years, the 1930s, Bartlett used many methods to finance his cruises. In addition to the fees and contributions from scientific institutions for which he carried out commissions, he caught animals for zoos, photographed for Pathe News, and shipped boys as paying, but working, passengers; during the winters he wrote, lectured, and showed his films. These activities brought him into contact with Greville A. G. Haslam, to whom many of the letters in this collection were written and one copy of the book, The Log of “Bob” Bartlett, inscribed. Haslam (1891-1967) was the Headmaster of the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, where Bartlett lectured and recruited boys for his cruises, and he shared Bartlett's interest in exploration, being a member of the Royal Geographical Society, a world traveller, and the author of several papers for geographical journals.

Much of the correspondence is with James B. Pond and the Pond Lecture Bureau during the years 1929-1933. Pond was agent for many explorers and other well-known lecturers during the 1920s and 1930s and arranged all the details of their lecture tours. The letters here deal for the most part with invitations, fees, contracts, and transportation schedules, giving an insight into the problems faced by Bartlett and other explorers between expeditions. The radio scripts, also from Pond's files, are short accounts by Bartlett of sailing and Arctic experiences.

One letter and the other inscribed book are to Richard Halsey Goddard (1897-1983), professor of astronomy and director of the Shattuck Observatory at Dartmouth College. Goddard had a lifelong interest in the Arctic and spent two and a half years there on expeditions led by Donald B. MacMillan.

In 1941 Bartlett's schooner was commandeered by the United States Government as a supply ship and utility vessel. Bartlett and his crew volunteered to serve on her and spent five years in the Arctic. He and Haslam remained friends, and the few letters here from the 1940s mention some of Bartlett's wartime activities.

This collection was purchased in 1985, and there are no restrictions on its use.

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