NP seafaring diary 4 history buffs

[grladams at teleport.com]

There was a teeny bit of discussion about erotic rites of passage in
seafaring, way back in Jul 1997, during MDMD a while back, and I just saw
this today and - poof - now I have to post it to pynchon-l just in case
someone still is interested in this sort of thing.

An American Seafarer in the Age of Sail: The Erotic Diaries of Philip C.
Van Buskirk, 1851-1870 
Contributor(s): Burg, Barry Richard (Author), Rosenplot, Jeff (With), Burg,
B R (Author)  
  
ISBN: 0300056370    EAN: 9780300056372  
 
Publisher: Yale University Press 
 
US SRP: $ 48.00 US  -  (Discount: NET)  
 
Binding: Hardcover  
 
Pub Date: April 1994  
 
 
 
  
LC Subjects:  
- Diaries  - Erotic literature, American  
- History  - Navy  
- Sailors  - Sea life  
- United States  - Van Buskirk, Philip C  

 
Themes:
- Sex & Gender | Gay
 
 
Dewey: 387.5092   
 
LCCN: 93029923  
 
Physical Info: 0.9" H x 9.55" L x 6.5" W (1.27 lbs) 238 pages  
 
Carton Quantity: 12     
 
 

Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.    
Publisher's Weekly (Monday , March 07, 1994):
Philip Van Buskirk, a 12-year-old who joined the U.S. Marines in 1846 as a
music boy, played drums on a Navy ship, first in the Mexican War and then
with the East India Squadron in 1851. He kept a diary recording life aboard
ship and his adventures on liberty. Burg, a professor of history at Arizona
State University, has constructed an intriguing narrative from the diaries,
which span the years 1851-1870 and are indeed, as the subtitle notes,
intimate. Van Buskirk describes his own and others' homoerotic acts, which
apparently occurred frequently on warships and were ignored by superiors.
Middle-class, with some schooling, he also writes of his unpopularity with
his rough-and-tumble mates. The diaries provide an illuminating glimpse of
class differences of the period as well as sex mores. Naval and social
historians will find this book valuable source material. (Apr.) 

Library Journal (Tuesday , February 01, 1994):
This fascinating volume relates the adventures of a young man who began a
rather checkered career in the navy in 1846 as a drummer boy. Covering his
life from teen years to his mid-thirties, these diaries give the reader
real insight into seafaring life in those days. Considerable space is
devoted to the subject's pursuit of attractive boys, as homoerotic
activities were evidently very much a part of navy life. By the end of the
account, Van Buskirk receives a commission. Much land activity takes place
in the Washington, D.C., and Maryland areas. Despite the book's many
intriguing passages, its appeal is limited to those having a definite
interest in this period and area of activity. For regional and large
maritime history collections.-- Robert E. Greenfield, formerly with
Baltimore Cty. P.L. 
 


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