[Printed Broadside]  THE DARK DAY.  Verses Occasioned by a very dark day, May 19, 1780.  1 sheet; 410 x 170 mm, printed area measures 300 x 126 mm;  verse in ten stanzas, the first line:  THE nineteenth of May, that very dark day....

            The year 1780 began as the coldest one of record in North America during the 18^th century and one that teemed with disasters for the American cause of Independence.  In May, the city of Charleston was about to fall to a British army under Sir Henry Clinton (and with its surrender, the southern colonies appeared equally doomed).  On May 19^th, a darkness extended over much of New England, which was interpreted by some  its various inhabitants as foretelling the demise of American independence from Briton (and the American hero Benedict Arnold’s attempted betrayal of West Point was still to come later that summer), while to those of more religious disposition, it was a sign that Judgement Day was close to hand.  Current scholarship, however, has attributed this darkness to the result of smoke and ashes trapped in the atmosphere by by moisture, the result of forest fires.

There is only one other known copy of this rare American broadside, held by the American Antiquarian Society, on which copy is annotated (unknown hand and date) “Written by Joseph Chapman of Groton, Conn. and printed ca. 1813”.  

Remarks &c on the Navigation of the Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron & Ontario

By Henry Kent Lieut RN [nd, c. 1817]; large folio with paper wrap made from a blank  Royal Navy “Slop Muster” form with 1815 watermark; 24 pp.manuscript written in the hand of Lieutenant Kent describing the locations of various harbors, sheltering places, military and naval establishments on the Great Lakes in the early 19^th century, with numerous references to naval operations on the Lakes during the recent War of 1812.

This incredibly detailed guide to sailing and navigating the oft-treacherous waters of the Great Lakes is divided into two parts:  “Sailing directions &c for Lakes Erie & Huron” and “Sailing Directions for Lake Ontario”.  It is perhaps the earliest written guide on this subject and much of the information found in it would probably prove invaluable to lake sailors to this day, but its primary value lies in its detailed descriptions and soundings of the various harbors, as well as noting any important landmarks for navigation, with special reference to their past (and possible future) use in time of war.  For example,  Kent mentions that “Chippewa Creek is situated about a mile and a half above the Falls on the River Niagara and from the mouth of it being a military post during the War was considered a secure place for sinking the small Vessels after the  Fleet on Lake Erie was captured by the Americans…”, noting that “to this place I was dispatched in 1815 by Commodore Sir [] Owen to assist in the construction of two large Schooners, taking 120 Artificers with me and a Guard of Thirty Marines on the [blank] of July we lay up the Keels and on the [  ] of August launched them, the one named Tecumseh and the Newark & former I obtained Command of.”

Henry Kent entered the Royal Navy in 1800 as a First Class Volunteer  and served aboard various ships until securing a midshipman’s appointment in March 1804 and three years later, a Master’s Mateship.  In 1809 he was promoted to Acting Lieutenant and on 14 March 1811 he was confirmed as Lieutenant aboard the HMS Fantome, a sloop of war which was part of the British squadron operating in the Chesapeake Bay during 1813 “where, in different attacks made upon the enemy’s works, he distinguished himself as a brave and meritorious officer.”  The January of following year,  “with a degree of zeal highly creditable to him, Lieut. Kent started from Halifax…at the head of upwards of 100 officers, seamen, and marines” to join Sir James Yeo’s Lake Ontario squadron,  “traversing a distance of nearly 1,000 miles across an uninhabited country, covered with snow and woods” and reached Kingston in March.  This daring feat was celebrated by the publication of Kent’s official report in the Naval Portfolio.  Kent was appointed 1^st Lieutenant aboard HMS Princess Charlotte, which he commanded with great merit during the attack and taking of Oswego.  In June 1814, he was placed in command of a division of the Ontario squadron and was later appointed Superintendent of the Naval Depot at Penetengusishne.  In 1819, “in consequence of a severe attack and fever and ague …[that] reduced him to a mere skeleton”, he removed to the Lake Champlain establishment, where “he remained until Oct. 1822, when he returned home with his officers and men after an absence of 10 years”. 

With:

Lieutenant William Robins, USN to Lieutenant Silas Duncan, USN,  Kingston, “Upper Canada” on 2 August 1819; ALS, 1 p.. Written by a veteran of the battle of Plattsburgh to a former comrade in arms, now an officer aboard the USS Washington at New York, Robins introduces and recommends Lieutenant Henry Kent “of his Majesty’s Navy”, noting that the Briton’s”general deportment to our Countrymen has given him a Sincere reception by the Navy Officers on the Station at Sackett’s Harbor Where I am at present Station’d.”