Dear Sun Spots: I am looking for information on facilities used by minor league baseball teams. Auburn had a team called the Lewiston-Auburn Twins in the New England League of 1919. Do you or any of your readers have information on the date the ballpark was built or opened and its current status or approximate date of demolition? Thanks. I can be reached at (207) 782-3191, ext: 4. – Sally Holt, Auburn.

Answer: Sun Spots contacted Bob Pacios at the Auburn Lewiston Hall of Fame who says he believes the ballpark you are looking for is the AAA Park (called by locals Triple A Park). The AAA stands for Auburn Athletic Association. The Park was located on the west side of Center Street, approximately where Gippers is presently located, running north from Gippers. It was set back a bit and the ball-playing did not interfere with what was then little traffic on Center Street. Pacios believes the park was used up to the ’40s and possibly a little beyond that. He thinks that it was replaced by Pettengill Park where the first game was played in the early ’50s. He does have the exact date that Pettengill was opened, and if you are interested in that data you might want to touch base with him.

Dear Sun Spots: Is there anyone who can please tell me about the book, “Twenty Years Before The Mast,” by Charles Erskine? It was published in 1890 and is about circumnavigating the globe, 1838-1842, under the command of Adm. Charles Wilkes. I can be reached at (207) 369-0230. – J.D., No Town.

Answer: In addition to responses from readers, the title appears to be: “Twenty Years Before the Mast: With the More Thrilling Scenes and Incidents While Circumnavigating the Globe Under the Command of the Late Admiral Charles Wilkes, 1838-1842.” Boston: Charles Erskine, 1890. 311 pp. (Reprinted 1985 by Smithsonian Institution Press).

According to several Web sites, the book is out of print. Sun Spots would encourage you to try contacting Artios Books, 180 Turner St., Auburn, 786-4007; Pepperell Books at (207) 344-6900; The Page Turner and Pages Already Turned, 247 Lisbon St., Lewiston, (207) 753-1112 all of whom are often helpful in locating hard to find books and may be able to assist you in your search.

In the meantime, the book appears to be an account of the five-year sailing expedition, from 1838 to 1842, financed by James Smithson of future Smithsonian fame, and told by one ordinary sailor. The purpose of the voyage was one of exploration and collecting of knowledge, as Smithson already had a visualization of what the Smithsonian museum should become. It was thus the first great global expedition financed by the young American nation, and they went everywhere.

Erskine, a literate sailor, had spent much of his life on various sailing ships, but the book does not cover 20 years, as the title implies. It focuses wholly on the Smithson expedition. In an easy-to-read style, Erskine relates what he sees: the stench and horror of black slave-ships along the coast of Africa or in the new world, the wonders of Hawaii, the wilderness coast of Puget sound and the area around present-day Seattle.

In Fiji, one quote may indicate the kind of surprises which await the reader: “One morning a big canoe came alongside our ship with two chiefs and nine roasted human bodies. The chiefs were bound for one of the leeward islands to have a feast with their brother, the head chief of the island.”

In addition, you might also be interested in “Two Years Before The Mast,” Richard Henry Dana Jr.’s account of his life as a common seaman aboard the brig the Pilgrim which set out from Boston on August 14, 1835 destined for California by way of the treacherous Cape Horn. Dana gives a detailed account of the workings of the ship, the day-to-day routines of the deck hands, and the brutal shortcomings of inept, tyrannical officers. This “author’s edition” includes a chapter written by Dana 24 years after his initial voyage where he revisits some of the people, places and vessels that he had encountered on his original journey.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].