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NAVAL – LOG BOOKS Two Naval Log Books from the General Elliott; order book from the Dryad (3) image 1
NAVAL – LOG BOOKS Two Naval Log Books from the General Elliott; order book from the Dryad (3) image 2
NAVAL – LOG BOOKS Two Naval Log Books from the General Elliott; order book from the Dryad (3) image 3
Lot 17

NAVAL – LOG BOOKS
Two Naval Log Books from the General Elliott, 1788-1794; with a Captain's order book from the Dryad, [1805-1807] (3)

1 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £2,422.50 inc. premium

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NAVAL – LOG BOOKS

i) Two Naval Log Books from the General Elliott, the first titled "Captain Drummond's Journal in a Voyage to Bombay & China commencing 20th December 1788 & ending 19th June 1790", commencing with a five-page manuscript list of officers and men, a daily precis of the weather encountered on voyage, followed by some 90 pages of printed forms with manuscript insertions detailing the course, wind direction, observations and other notes of the voyage from England to Bombay and return via St Helena, also including list of ships belonging to the English East India Company in 1789, list of cargo on return journey ("...170 half chests China ware... 55 chests Peko... 70 Bales Raw Silk..."), eight pages of pen and ink profile drawings of islands such as Madeira, Trinidad, Comero, Socatra, Pulo Timoan, some leaves excised, bookplate of Robert Drummond Esq, Megginch Castle, c.60 leaves, dust-staining and other marks, some water damage, reverse calf with blind-stamped decoration, folio (367 x 232mm.), 20 December 1788 to 19 June 1790; the second concerning the voyage of the General Elliott from Blackwall Dock to Bengal and back via St Helena, commencing with a daily precis of the weather and some 140 pages of printed forms with manuscript insertions on the weather etc., some leaves excised, c.130 leaves, dust-staining and other marks, rough canvas cover sewn over calf boards, stained, binding loose and partly detached, folio (380 x 240mm.), 14 November 1793 to 22 July 1794

ii) Manuscript order book for HMS Dryad under Captain Adam Drummond, comprising some 80 separate orders including 39 numbered general orders covering duties, procedures and discipline ("...No Women to be permitted on board... The men to be accountable for the cleanliness of their wives..."), additional specific orders for The Master ("...he will never suffer any liquor to be drawn off but upon deck..."), The Surgeon ("...for stoves for the use of the sick, application must be made to the quarter-deck..."), The Purser ("...Provisions from the steward Room to be issued out between 7 and 8 in the morning..."), Marines, The Boatswain ("...The Forecastle being immediately under his command, he is expected to keep it very clean, the ropes neatly coiled..."), The Carpenter ("...the earliest discovery of any leaks..."), and The Gunner ("...He is to examine the magazine frequently and cause the Powder to be turned every six weeks..."), each entry signed by "Adam Drummond, Captain" and the relevant parties, c.52 pages, dust-staining and marks, original vellum boards with title inscribed on upper cover in ink, binding worn, spine detached, 4to (234 x 190mm.), [1805-1807] (3)

Footnotes

'170 CHESTS CHINA WARE... 55 CHESTS PEKO'.

The British East Indiaman General Elliott (so named to honour General Elliott's defence of Gibraltar) undertook six voyages between 1783 and 1795, captained by Robert Drummond (1759-1815), 6th Laird of Megginch. The first copper-bottomed ship in the East India fleet to make the voyage to Bombay, she was then sold into the West Indies trade and was eventually broken up in 1802 after coming to grief in 1798. On coming into his family estate, Megginch Castle in Perthshire, Drummond commissioned a hexagonal dovecote topped by a weathervane in the shape of the General Elliott to commemorate the vessel in which he had made a record-breaking voyage to Bombay in 1783. Robert Drummond's brother Admiral Sir Adam Drummond (1770-1849) succeeded him as 7th Laird in 1815 after a long career in the Navy and had also served under him as a teenager on the General Elliott. The Dryad was his second command as captain, a post he held from 1805 to 1807. In November 1805 aboard the Dryad he harried four French ships fleeing from Trafalgar into the path of a British squadron resulting in their capture at the Battle of Cape Ortegal.

Provenance: Robert Drummond (1759-1815), and his brother Admiral Sir Adam Drummond of Megginch (1770-1849); thence by descent.

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