Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
John M. Cavarly Papers: Finding Aid
mssCavarly papers
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Title: John M. Cavarly Papers
Dates (inclusive): 1856-1960
Bulk dates: 1856-1896
Collection Number: mssCavarly papers
Creator:
Cavarly, John M.
Extent: 47 items.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains 45 items related to John M. Cavarly (1832-1895), a ship's
captain, who worked for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, from 1864 to 1890.
Documents include some correspondence, scrapbooks, and ship's log. As well, the collection also includes the manuscript of
the 1961 novel
Annie's Captain,
about Cavarly and his wife written by their granddaughter Kathryn Hulme.
Language: English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. John M. Cavarly Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Gift of Kathryn Hulme, March 1962.
John M. Cavarly (1832-1895) was born in 1832, presumably in New London, Connecticut. His father had been
crippled by a fall at sea, but that did not deter Cavarly from going to sea at the
age of 14 on a packet ship bound for London in 1848. He made captain by 1859 and
sailed clipper ships for private interests. On one such voyage in 1859 to Hawaii
from New York, he met and married Annie Bolles (1839-1890), daughter of a well-to-do Hawaiian
businessman. In 1863, he lost his ship, the
Anglo
Saxon,
to the Confederate steamer
CSS
Florida
off the coast of Ireland.
It was upon his return from this loss that John M. Cavarly decided to sail steamers
and transition to new naval technology. His first post was as the replacement First
Mate on a Pacific Mail Steamship Company steamer his friend captained. He was soon
hired by the company and promoted to captain in 1864. In all, he captained
twenty-two ships for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company between 1864 and his
retirement in 1890. He mainly sailed the Pacific Ocean, mostly the Panama Line, but
he sailed the China Line from 1868 to 1870 (and then on two other occasions before
his retirement as the need arose) and the Australia Line from 1876 to 1878. Annie
Bolles Cavarly died in 1890 and John M. Cavarly delayed his retirement and sailed
for three more years after her death. He was made Port Captain in 1863, but finally
retired a year later. John M. Cavarly died in 1895.
John and Annie Cavarly had five children, three girls and two boys. The
author of
Annie’s Captain, Kathryn Hulme (1900-1981), is their
second daughter’s child.
This collection contains 47 items related to John M. Cavarly, a ship's
captain, who worked for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, from 1864 to 1890.
Documents include some correspondence, scrapbooks, and ship's log. As well, the collection also includes the manuscript of
the 1961 novel
Annie's Captain,
about Cavarly and his wife written by their granddaughter Kathryn Hulme.
There are ten pieces
of correspondence, six of which relate to particular voyages and four are letters
from Cavalry to his daughter. The Scrapbook Pages are also filled with
correspondence relating to Pacific Mail Steamship Company. The other scrapbooks
contain clippings from newspapers regarding voyages, ships, and amusing anecdotes.
The Bound Scrapbook used to be a ship’s log and there are pages that are not covered
in newspaper clippings. The photographs include one photograph of the John M.
Cavarly, a photograph of the steamer “City of New York,” and a photograph of her
officers, including Captain Cavarly. The manuscript,
Annie’s
Captain,
is a work of fiction about the lives of John M. Cavarly, his
wife and their family.
Subjects in the collection include: CSA Florida; John Newland Maffitt; United States
mail steamers; Pacific Mail Steamship Company; sailing anecdotes; fiction of Ship
captains' spouses; fiction of ship captains; steamboats and steamboat disasters; San
Francisco Steamboat lines; Steamboat lines to China; Steamboat lines of the Pacific
Ocean; United States Civil War fiction; United States Civil War naval
operations.
Items are arranged chronologically.
- Pacific Mail Steamship Company records (Call number: mssPacific mail steamship co)
- Kathryn Hulme’s personal papers, family correspondence, and other research materials for her book are located in the Kathryn Hulme Papers, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Library.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Cavarly, John
M.
Maffitt, John Newland,
1819-1886.
Florida
(Cruiser)
Pacific Mail Steamship
Company.
Sailing -- Anecdotes.
Ship captains.
Ship captains' spouses.
Steamboat disasters -- United States --
History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Steamboat lines -- China.
Steamboat lines -- Pacific
Ocean.
Steamboats -- United States.
United States --
History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Naval operations.
Letters (correspondence) -- United
States -- 19th century.
Manuscripts -- United States -- 20th
century.
Scrapbooks -- United States -- 19th
century.
Hulme, Kathryn, 1900-1981.
Florida (Cruiser)
- Subject in Scrapbook Pages (1856, Apr. 17 – 1905, July 9). Box 1 (1).
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (1).
Maffitt, John Newland, 1819-1886
- Subject in Scrapbook Pages (1856, Apr. 17 – 1905, July 9). Box 1 (1).
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (1).
Sailing – Anecdotes
- Subject in Unbound Scrapbook Pages (1869- 1893, June). Box 1 (4).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
Ship captains' spouses – Fiction
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (1).
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (2).
Ship captains – United States – Diaries
- Subject in S.S. Great Republic Ship’s Logs (1864, Sep. 3 – 1864, Nov. 19). Box 1 (3).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
- Subject in S.S. Colima Compass Book (1883, Feb. 1 – 1887, May 29). Box 1 (9).
Ship captains - Fiction
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (1). John M. Cavarly Papers - Finding Aid - 5
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme, 1900-1981. Box 2 (2).
Steamboat disasters – United States – History – 19th century
- Subject in Unbound Scrapbook Pages (1869- 1893, June). Box 1 (4).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
Steamboat lines – China
- Subject in S.S. Great Republic Ship’s Logs (1864, Sep. 3 – 1864, Nov. 19). Box 1 (3).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
Steamboat lines – Pacific Ocean
- Subject in S.S. Great Republic Ship’s Logs (1864, Sep. 3 – 1864, Nov. 19). Box 1 (3).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
- Subject in Photographs ([1877]-1889). Box 1 (8).
- Subject in S.S. Colima Compass Book (1883, Feb. 1 – 1887, May 29). Box 1 (9).
Steamboats
- Subject in S.S. Great Republic Ship’s Logs (1864, Sep. 3 – 1864, Nov. 19). Box 1 (3).
- Subject in Bound Scrapbook (1874, Sep. 29 – 1880, Apr. 7). Box 1 (6).
- Subject in Photographs ([1877]-1889). Box 1 (8).
- Subject in S.S. Colima Compass Book (1883, Feb. 1 – 1887, May 29). Box 1 (9).
Steamboats – Fiction
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme. Box 2 (1).
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme. Box 2 (2).
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Fiction
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme. Box 2 (1).
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Naval operations
- Subject in Scrapbook Pages (1856, Apr. 17 – 1905, July 9). Box 1 (1).
United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Naval operations – Fiction
- Subject in “Annie’s Captain” (1960?) manuscript by Kathryn Hulme. Box 2 (1).