'A lively and detailed story of life in San Francisco and the California gold camps in the early 1850's.'Kirkus Reviews
The rich bright green at all times charms the beholder, and the eye does not become wearied with the thick masses of luxuriant foliage, for they are ever blended in grace and harmony, now towering in the air in bold relief against the sky, now drooping in graceful festoons from the bank, kissing their own reflections in the stream beneath...
It’s the mid nineteenth-century and Frank Marryat, having journeyed from England to America via Panama, finally lands in California, where his pioneering adventures begin.
Marryat’s diary entries, beginning in the April of 1850, chronicle all his weird and wonderful experiences in America from horse races, hunting, bear fighting and bull fighting, and show us – in his inimitable narrative voice of ‘bemused Englishman’ – the vibrant world of San Francisco society during the California Gold Rush.
Charming, poetic, witty, and engaging, this first-hand account of a nineteenth-century seaman’s adventures in Gold Rush California will transport you back in time to a land populated by pioneers and adventurers, and the odd charlatan to boot.
Frank Marryat (1826-1855), son of Captain Frederick Marryat, joined the Royal Navy aged 14 as a midshipman. During his service in the Far East in 1843, Frank created many sketches inspired by the sights from aboard HMS Samarang. He originally intended to publish these sketches without accompanying text, but later added passages from his own and colleagues’ journals, thus producing his first published book in 1848. On a journey to the Americas with his new bride, Marryat contracted yellow fever and died shortly before his final book, Mountains and Molehills was published in 1855.
Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.
