Written on Water: Literature of the Sea

"Written on Water: Literature of the Sea in the Age of Sail" offers a sampling of the variety of books and manuscripts dealing with ships and the sea during a time before steam-powered vessels. National boundaries and personal fortunes alike depended on wooden ships propelled by wind and canvas sails; the voyages themselves were often fraught with danger and physical difficulty. ​

The materials on display here offer a few examples drawn from the wide array of literature produced during the period. They range in date from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and in genre from educational handbooks for new sailors to early editions of classic nautical tales.