In the supplement to the Georg von Vollmar's archive, 34 documents about the sea travels of Johann Heinrich Zimmermann from 1779 to 1791 were found. The relationship between the social democrat Von Volllmar and Zimmermann remains unclear. Zimmermann was a humble craftsman who joined Captain Cook's third journey as a sailor and he was the first to publish a travel report about that unfortunate voyage on which Captain Cook was killed (published Mannheim 1781). On the way he took notes in secret, since only the scholars on board were allowed to publish anything. Zimmermann appears to have believed that Cook's death exempted him from this restriction.
Although the original publication was suppressed in Germany at the request of the British admiralty, French and Dutch translations were published. An English edition did not appear until 1926. Zimmermanns publication about the famous journey was a major boost to his career, and the papers that reached the IISH reflect the professional benefits that ensued.
Among them was the commission that Zimmermann received to build a ship in Marseille for the Bavarian sovereign. He kept a travel log en route from Munich via Trieste, Florence, and Livorno to Southern France. This was quite an ambitious project for a man who shortly before had been a simple sailor. Later on he surfaced in India as well. In 1789 an impressive request arrived from Russia to plan an expedition to the South Pacific. According to the plans he drafted, the Russians would travel in style for 80,000 roubles. Presumably, this plan was never carried out, and Saint Petersburg had to wait for the famous Krusenstern to realize this ambition. To this day, little is known about Zimmermann except for his travel report published, but these papers may change that.
Text: Jan Lucassen
Text was taken from On the Waterfront - newsletter of the Friends of the IISH Issue 7 (pdf, 743 Kb).