Arctic Expeditions

While searching a bit further on the 1852 Winter I came across this list of expeditions to the Artic. I was personally surprised to find the list dated back to 1848. It lists Ships, Captains, and deaths as well as how many days in Melville Bay.

Arctic Expeditions (from the Times, December 29, 1874).—"The following is a list of ships, comprising Government and Private Expeditions, British and Foreign, which have been on exploring service within the Arctic Circle since the Franklin Expedition sailed. It will be seen that the crews of all these vessels have returned in safety to their respective countries, with only such loss of life as might well have occurred had the men stayed at home :—
1. 1848 to 1849—H.m.'b ship Enterprise, Sir J. C. Ross. One winter, 26 days in Melville Bay.
2. 1848 to 1849.—H.M.'s ship Investigator, Captain Bird. One winter, 25 days in Melville Bay. Seven deaths (one officer) on board the Enterprise and Investigator.
3. 1849 to 1850.—H.M.'s ship North Star, Mr. Saunders. One winter, 57 days in Melville Bay. Four deaths.
4. 1849.—H.M.'s ship Plover, Captains Moore and Maguirc. Three winters. Three deaths.
6. 1850.—H.M's ship Enterprise, Captain Collinson. Three winters. Three deaths.
6. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Investigator, Captain M'Clure. Four winters. Six deaths (one officer).
7. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Resolute, Captain Austin. One winter, 45 days in Melville Bay. One death (accident).
8. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Assistance, Captain Ommanney. One winter, 45 days in Melville Bay. No death.
9. 1850.—H.M.'s ship Pioneer, Lieutenant Osborn. One winter. No death.
10. 1850.—H.M.'s «hip Intrepid, Lieutenant Cator. One winter. No death.
11. 1850.—Brig Lady Franklin, Captain Penny. One winter. No death.
12. 1850.—Brig Sophia, Captain Stewart. One winter. No death.
13. 1850.—Schooner Prince Albert, Captain Forsyth. Summer Cruise.
14. I860.—Schooner Felix, Sir John Ross and Captain Phillips. One winter. No death.
15. 1850.—Advance (American), Lieutenant Griffith. One winter drifting.
16. 1850.—Rescue (American), Lieutenant Dehaven. One winter drifting.
17. 1851.—Schooner Prince Albert, Mr. Kennedy. One winter. No death.
18. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Assistance, Sir E. Belcher. Two winters, 38 days in Melville Bay. No death.
19. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Resolute, Captain Kellett. Two winters, 38 days in Melville Bay. Six deaths.
20. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Pioneer, Commander OBborn. Two winters. No deaths.
21. 1852.—H.M.'s ship Intrepid, Lieutenant M'Clintock. Two winters. No death.
22. 1852.—H.M.'s ship North Star, Mr. Pullen. Two winters. 38 days in Melville Bay. Three deaths.
23. 1852.—Steamer Isabel, Captain Inglefield. No detention in Melville Bay; summer cruise.
24. 1853.—H.M's ship Phoenix, Captain Inglefield. Nine days in Melville Bay; summer cruise.
25. 1854.—H.M.'s ship Phojnix, Captain Inglefield. Took the pack—30 days; summer cruise.
26. 1854.—H.M.'s ship Talbot, Captain Jenkins. Summer cruise.
27. 1853.—Advance (American brig). Dr. Kane. Two winters. Took the pack—10 days.
28. 1857.—Steamer Fox, Captain M'Clintock. Two winters; first winter in pack, second season through in nine days. Three died.
29. 1850.—Schooner United States, Dr. Hayes. One winter, two days in Melville Bay. One death (accident).
30. 1871.—Steamer Poluris, Captain Hall. Twowinters; no detention in Melville Bay. One death.
31. 1873.—Steamer Juniata, Lieutenant Merriman. No detention in Melville Bay ; summer cruise.
32. 1873.—Steamer Tigress, Captain Green. Summer cruise.

1851-1852 Weather

In a Report of the New Jersey Geological survey I stumbled upon this tidbit. It is amazing where you will find tiny tidbits that can help your story.

1852.—Winter of 1851-2, cold; mean temperatures of the months, 3° to 8° below the average; East river crossed on the ice January 30th, and for three days following; Susquehanna at Havre de Grace frozen over for seven weeks; cold and snows as far south as New Orleans and Jacksonville, Fla.

Sea Voyage Gingerbread

This recipe comes from Miss Leslie's Lady's New Receipt book ©1850. It could be used by your characters when sending off their spouse, father, brother or sequestered away in the folds of her shirt to prevent sea-sickness, or better yet to hide the morning sickness your character might be expecting. Or what about some busybody seeing your character eating such treats and gossiping that she is pregnant. The list can go on and on. Enjoy playing with the idea of this kind of a recipe for your characters.

SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.—Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour, and then mix in a pint of West India molasses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a teacup-full of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your paste-board, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly buttered ; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.
You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.
These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly spiced gingerbread a preventive to sea-sickness.

Almond Cream Pudding

Okay this was a new recipe for me. Perhaps, some of you have heard of it and possibly have eaten it before and if that is so, let us know. On the other hand, this recipe is a lot of work and has items I've never heard about before (definitions of those are below the recipe) so many it isn't made any longer.

Below is a recipe from the Miss Ledlie's Lady's New Receipt Book ©1850

ALMOND CREAM.—Take a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and two ounces or more of shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels. Blanch them in scalding water, throwing them as you proceed into a bowl of cold water. Then pound them (one at a time) in a mortar, till each becomes a smooth paste; pouring in, as you proceed, a little rosewater to make the almonds white and light, and transferring the paste to a plate as you go on. Then when they are all done, mix the almonds with a quart of rich cream, and a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Add half a dozen blades of mace; put the mixture into a porcelain kettle, and boil it, slowly, stirring it frequently down to the bottom. Having given it one boil up, remove it from the fire, take out the mace, and when it has cooled a little, put the cream into glass cups, grating nutmeg over each. Serve it up quite cold. You may ornament each cup of this cream with white of egg, beaten to a stiff froth, and heaped on the top.

Definitions:
Loaf-Sugar it is sold in a solid block and is granulated. A tool such as a sugar nip was used to break off chunks of this sugar.

Blades of Mace: is the outer lacy looking shell of nutmeg. Ground mace which we all tend to be accustomed to today is made from this lacy scarlet-colored shell. Once the shell is dried fades to light brown.

Linen Weddings

This comes from the Ladies' Home Journal ©1893

THE LINEN WEDDING
MAY be celebrated twenty years from the "day of days " in a woman's life. It must be confessed that, although it furnishes an excellent opportunity for pretty presents in embroidered doilies and all manner of other napery, it is less suggestive to a hostess as a "theme" for an entertainment. A dinner, to which only intimate friends and the families of bride and groom are invited, seems more appropriate than any more ambitious observance of the day.
The invitations may be written on squares of linen in indelible ink and inclosed in envelopes of the same material. The elaborate folding of napkins is no longer in vogue, but the fashion might be revived on such an occasion when linen is to be made the prominent feature. Any pretty drawnwork or embroidered linen may be appropriately introduced. Napkins folded to represent a succession of scallop-shells or fans may surround and conceal the dish holding the flowers in the centre of the table. No flowers are so suitable for the occasion as the pretty blue blossoms of the flax plant, but they are hardly vivid enough by themselves to be effective, as the table is so severely white. Bright poppies and yellow-hearted daisies mingled among the blue flax make a charming centrepiece. Small squares of fine linen with fringed edges may be embroidered with the guests' names in blue or red (Kensington stitch) in bold English writing, and will answer very well for name-cards when made to adhere to squares of Bristol-board bymeans of a little flour paste.
Nothing makes a better surface for watercolor painting than linen, and imagination may run riot if the hostess be an artist. Upon every dish a round, fringed doily should be placed.
A really dainty flower-holder may be made by placing a slender thin glass tumbler in the centre of a round piece of fine linen, edged with lace an inch or two wide. This should be drawn up and plaited around the edge of the tumbler and tied with narrow ribbon in many loops. The lace stands out like a ruffle, making a border around the flowers.

Hurricane Irma

Hi all,
Sorry for no new posts due to Hurricane Irma. We faired well with loss of power for less than 24 hours and no damage to our home. We are grateful to the Lord for our protection during this storm.
I hope to get some posts done tomorrow.
In His grip,
Lynn

1895 Hair Dye

Here is an advertisement from an 1895 newspaper offering to wash that gray away. Okay, so it isn't actually that but I remember those old commercials. Hair Dye has been around for centuries.

Gig, A Flirting Girl

Below is an article I found in an 1899 Newspaper that I thought was interesting in terms of word use. We've discussed often on various writer loops the way certain words were in vogue at certain times and how they can have totally different meanings in other times. For example the gig. A gig concerning my research into 19th century Carriages & Wagons is a light, two wheeled carriage. Obviously it has another meaning as you can read from this article. Enjoy!

Crystal Wedding (Anniversary today)

This comes from the Ladies' Home Journal ©1893

THE CRYSTAL WEDDING
THE fifteenth anniversary may be effectively celebrated by an '' afternoon tea" out-of-doors, if the "happy pair" be the fortunate possessors of a lawn and shade trees. A few little tables in sheltered nooks—and a larger one for the more important dishes—are suggestive of pleasure at first sight. In the centre of the large table I would place a cut-glass dish, holding a mass of red roses.
As one is confined to glass dishes for everything at a crystal wedding its lack of color is better supplemented by red flowers than those of other shades.
A glass dish or vase filled with roses, geraniums or carnations might ornament each of the little tables, for the lavish month of June is so prodigal of blossoms.
It is the custom in Russia to serve tea in very thin glasses, in preference to cups, and as it is taken with lemon, instead of cream, it is much more dainty in appearance. The Austrians also prefer glasses to cups for their coffee, and the habit once formed 110 cup seems thin enough. Any excuse to use glass is admissible. The lemonade and ices are, of-course, served in tumblers and glass saucers. Instead of sugar for the tea and coffee the crystals of white rock candy may be used, and are no mean substitute. A profusion of cut glass on the large table makes, of course, an attractive decoration in itself, but the pressed glass now imitates it very nearly and is wonderfully cheap.
Should a dinner be preferred every possible device for using glass should be taken advantage of.
A large piece of looking-glass bordered with red roses, or other flowers if desired, may be placed on the table, a glass bowl of flowers in the centre. If one be not fortunate enough to have inherited old fashioned glass candlesticks with long pendent prisms, ordinary glass ones are cheap and easily procured. The shades may have a fringe of cut-glass beads around them, that, catching the light, has a pretty, prismatic effect.
For name-cards small, round, beveled mirrors, three inches in diameter, may be easily inscribed with the names of the guests in any colored ink preferred. Wreaths of tiny blossoms painted along the edges would, of course, greatly enhance their beauty. Should these prove too expensive a simple white card, around the edges of which crystal beads are thickly sewed, forming a sort of a frame, may not be an unacceptable substitute.

Farm Land for sale 1874

Here's an ad from American Agriculturalist ©1874 encouraging farmers to go out and settle the west. The price was $10 per acre. You didn't have to pay for the first four years. You can pay the note off early. All enticing the farmer to come and settle Nebraska.

Crescent Bicycles

Last week I posted 5 ads for different types of bicycles. Below is a copy of an advertisement for Crescent Bicycles the prices reflect the costs of 1895. Note that I also saw a Monarch Bicycle ad reflecting higher costs of $85 to $100.

Horse Timers

For those of you who race horses this is probably nothing new but for me...well it caused me to pause and think...hmm, the perfect gift for the character who needs nothing. Or perhaps, it is a helpful gift for someone raising race horses. In either case it is an unusual tidbit. This comes from an ad in "The Rider & Driver" magazine ©1883.

Tin Weddings

This comes from Ladies' Home Journal ©1893

THE TIN WEDDING
COMES with the tenth anniversary. If a dinner be given, the table may be made beautiful with pink roses and syringa placed in a bright new tin dish, in the centre. Four dishes, holding the pink and white bonbons, cakes, etc., may be set in the midst of tin rings (used for baking cakes in circular shape), the edges of the plates resting on those of the tins. These rings filled with roses and syringa will make pretty wreaths around each prominent dish. If a more elaborate decoration be desired any tinsmith can make a flowerholder in the form of the initial of the groom's name and that of the bride's maiden name—one to be placed at each end of the table.
The little round stands of twisted tin wire, made for the teapot, turned upside down and lined with pink laced papers, make dainty receptacles for salted almonds or small bonbons. If, as is now fashionable, small "individual " dishes are supplied for the almonds new heart-shaped "patty pans " will answer the purpose.
Cards of heavy Bristol-board, very lightly covered with mucilage, may be entirely enveloped in tin foil, and so smoothly that the artifice will not be suspected. The guests' names may be scratched upon the surface. A small tin funnel at each lady's place will make a pretty bouquet-holder.

Another post: In this one you'll find some suggested gifts for the 10th anniversary as well.
A Tin Wedding Day (5°» S. vi. 307) is the tenth anniversary of the happy day. "Cards" are sent out, made of tin, on which is printed a suitable inscription, and, by the way, for the benefit of all printers, I will say this should be done with a rubber stereotype, because type-metal will indent the tin. The inscription gives the year of the marriage and the current year, and, leaving out of view the material, is much like any "at home" card. Each guest is expected to bring a present which must be partly or wholly of tin, and may be a tin drinking cup worth twopence, or a costly piece of lace in an old tin mustard box. Dealers in tin ware prepare articles, assimilated in shape to wearing apparel, laundry utensils, or furniture, utterly useless, of course, and only intended to cause merriment. Fancy a broad brimmed hat or a flat iron made of tin, or a writing desk made of the same material. At a tin wedding I recently attended, a guest brought a tin pail, filled with lemonade, and a silver ladle to serve the beverage. Another brought a fog horn, such as the fishing schooners use on the high seas, in thick weather, to give warning of their presence, and avoid collision with other vessels. Its note is an exceedingly low c, so low that, after one solo on it, the hearer would be glad to see it so low in the sea that none would ever see it again. The tin wedding is an excellent occasion for the renewal of the kitchen tins, while it affords much merriment by the ludicrous offerings which are sometimes made. Like many other good things, it may be "run into the ground," or, as Dr. Johnson would say, become so vulgar and trite as to deserve the reprehension of all. John E. Norcross. Brooklyn, U.S.
Source: Notes & Queries ©1876

Below is a poem written by Alice Holmes ©1868
A Tin Wedding.
We hail your Tin wedding with eager delight,
And join the glad circle that greets you to-night;
And call back the moments we saw you with pride,
At Hymen's fair altar, made bridegroom and bride.

The pure cup of pleasure, unmingled with tears,
Hath flown for you sweetly these ten sunny years.
And strewn with bright roses your pathwhy hath been,
While joy crowned your labors again and again.

And smiling with plenty your garners are stored,
And bright is the future your prospects afford,
When buds ye are training in beauty shall bloom,
And love's sweetest halo the light of your home.

And while your new nuptials we now must begin,
We bring you in friendship some presents of Tin ;
And when their bright lustre by time is defaced,
With silver untarnished we'll have them replaced ;

And keep your Third wedding with high merry glee,
And hope that the Fourth one all golden may be.
And when for another the time rolls around,
With diamonds most brilliant, oh! may ye be crowned ;

And bright wreaths of honor around you be twined,
And friendship unfading your hearts ever bind.
With fast fleeting years may your pleasures increase,
And life's ripened harvest be gathered in peace.

1853 Fares

I stumbled on this while working on my 19th Century Carriages & Wagons Resource Book. Below is a list of fares published in Disturnell's American & European Railroad & Steamship Guide ©1853.

FOR ONE PERSON, FROM THE HOTELS, TO THE RAILBOAD DEPOTS, AND STEAMBOAT WHARVES.
BOSTON.
Coach fare, with baggage, 25 cents
NEW YORK.
Coach and Cab fare, with baggage, 25 cents
Carman's fees, 25 cents
Porter's fees, 18 ½ cents
PHILADELPHIA.
Coach fare,* with baggage, 50 cents
Porter's fees, 25 cents
BALTIMORE.
Coach fare, with baggage 50 cents
Porter's fees, 25 cents
WASHINGTON.
Coach fare, with baggage. . . 25 cents
(CT For further information, see the laws relating to Hackney Coaches, &c., which can usually be found in the carriages, as required by law.
* The law allows 50 cents for one or two passengers.
N. B. The best mode to reduce the coach fare in Philadelphia and Baltimore, where it is too high, is not to employ them at present rates.