Description | Notebook diary of George White R.N., covering his voyages and explorations around the Mediterranean between 12 August 1836 and 1837. Inside the front cover is written 'No.6' although this is the fifth in the set of six diaries held in our collection, and 'HMS Jaseur, 12 August 1836.' The first entry describes taking on board 23 female passengers and servants, the families of wounded officers, followed by a return to Gibraltar (19 August) and Tangiers (22 September), intelligence from Malaga regarding the advance of Carlist forces under General Miguel Gómez Damas and their plundering of Cordoba (9 October), dealings with local military leader and 'popular rascal' Don Antonio Escalante, who was discharge 'with a British passport for Carthagena!' (24 October) and a sail from Malaga back to Gibraltar (29 October 1836), futher details of the Carlist wars in the region (November 1836), return to Malaga (29 December 1836) for more patrolling of the coastline between there and Gibraltar (December 1836 to March 1837), departure after three years in these waters (11 March 1837), setting sail for Tangiers en route for England (30 April 1837), proceeding on our voyage (1 May 1837), followed by an empty section on the page that presumably indicates the start of home leave and a gap in the diary. Entries recommence on 14 April 1838 when White sails to Canada on HMS Malabar with the 71st Regiment onboard from Cork, passing icebergs off Newfoundland (May 1838) and then sailing past the Île d'Orléans and entering the St Lawrence river near Quebec (14 May 1838), disembarking the 71st regiment (16 May 1838) and taking on board Lord Durham, Governor General of Canada to join his predecessor Sir John Colborne (17 May), a description of Quebec, sailing for Halifax (30 June 1838), embarking the 73rd (19 July 1838) and arriving in Quebec (6 August 1838) followed by 'a long period of repose, unbroken except by the monotonous routine of harbour duty' until 16 October 1838 when they sailed for Picton. During this voyage the ship struck underwater rocks off Prince Edward Island, and there are several pages recounting the crew's efforts to save the ship and get off the rocks. At this point the diary continues from the back page, written in the opposite direction, describing the ship's eventual arrival in Halifax (30 October), sailing for Bermuda and the passage back to Plymouth, England (arriving 29 December 1838.) White then sailed for Lisbon on HMS Implacable (9 April 1839) and his diary describes the arrival there of HMS Hastings, flying the Royal standard due to the presence onboard of the Dowager Queen of England (30 April 1839), scenes in Malta with a list of both French and English ships of war in port (25 July 1839), and then various journeys around the Mediterranean discussing locations related to the ancient history of Troy, such as the island of Tenedos, Berika Bay and Bounarbashi, in which White challenges the views of Dr Edward Daniel Clarke regarding the precise location of Troy, based on topographical observations and Greek quotes from Homer. There then follow journeys to Malta (6-11 April 1840), and to Naples with the Princess Charlotte (17-20 May 1840), including a description of Vesuvius and Pompeii. |