Marine History Collection - Logbook for Lady Vivian

Portrait of a Coastal Schooner

In 1846, a young Halifax lawyer from a powerful banking family spent a month aboard the coastal schooner Lady Vivian on a voyage from Halifax to Sydney and Pictou. This is James Cogswell’s illustrated logbook from that voyage – a light-hearted look at himself, the crew and their adventures ashore. It contains rare views of Nova Scotian vessels and harbours, captured before the arrival of photography. Full of whimsy, Cogswell’s delightful sketches also reveal the pleasure that he took in the voyage and the companionship of his shipmates. Tragically, James Cogswell would later die at sea when he was swept overboard from a Cunard liner in 1867.