Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Abstract log of the E. I. Ship Clarence

Authors

• Watson, Joseph, 1823-1894

Call number

Ms. Coll. 832
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9950083703503681
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/5008370

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Summary

This lined, black, leather-bound volume contains the abstract log of Captain Joseph Watson, commander of the East India Ship Clarence. The Clarence sailed from London to Madras and Calcutta, India, departing Calcutta for St. Helena and Demerara (British Guiana) before returning to London. The eleven-month voyage commenced 18 June 1864 and ended 3 May 1865. The log lists the crew, the passengers of the 18th regimental Hussars and their families who disembarked at Madras, and the ship's living cargo of 515 indentured servants, who are referred to in the log as Coolie immigrants. The detailed daily log records the ship's position, the weather, including barometric readings, and sea conditions. Also noted are encounters with and signals to other ships. Watson records the deaths of crew members, Hussar passengers, and the servants, including an account of an epidemic that took the lives of four to five immigrants a day. Captain Watson also recorded servants who jumped ship. When the Clarence reached Demerara on 5 March 1865, Watson notes the delivery of 175 immigrants in health, the deaths of 124 on board, and the sick sent to the hospital. Prior to reaching Calcutta, the Clarence survived a cyclone (3-5 October 1864 ) that hit land at the Bay of Bengal, leaving much of Calcutta in ruins and killing approximately 50,000 people. Captain Watson gives a detailed record of the storm, including hourly readings of wind and barometer. Arriving at Calcutta, Watson describes the devastation of the storm on the sea and land. Following the last recorded entry upon the Clarence's arrival in London on 3 May 1865, Captain Watson writes his account of the cyclone and also records other accounts written in an English newspaper. In addition to the log, there are one watercolor painting of the Prince of Wales ship, 1860, captained by Watson (see Manuscript Map Drawers); two letters, one from Watson and one to Watson from his uncle Thomas Watson; and a two-leaf abstract from the log of the E. I. Ship Newcastle from Calcutta towards Trinidad, 1865.

Extent

1 volume (plus 3 folders and 1 painting)

Provenance

• Sold by Voyager Press Rare Books & Manuscripts (Vancouver, B.C.), 2011.
   

Subjects topical

• Logbooks--19th century
• Ship captains--Great Britain--Diaries
• Indentured servants--India
• Indentured servants--Colonies--Great Britain
• Cyclones--India--Calcutta--19th century

Genres

• Ships' logs
• Watercolors (paintings)
• Manuscripts, English--19th century

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Ms. Coll. 832: Abstract log of the E. I. Ship Clarence are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2018 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode