Abstract: The journal of the East India Company ship
Buteby Captain Maitland Commander. The journal contains:‘A List of Officers Seamen & c. on Board the Ship’ (ff 2-4) and ‘A List of the Hon:ble Companies Soldiers for Madrass’ (ff 5-6)The journal also includes daily entries for the voyage (dates given are those of arrival) from Blackwall to Gravesend (9 January 1767), the Downs (3 March 1767), Isle of Wight (10 March 1767), Island of Madeira (26 March 1767), Island of Palma [Las Palmas de Gran Canaria] (30 March 1767), Island of Antonio [Ilha de Santo Antão] (9 April 1767) and Rio de Janeiro (6 June 1767)The entries for the voyage from Rio de Janeiro to Cape L’Agullas [Cape Agulhas] (3 August 1767), Bassas d’India [Bassas da India] (29 August 1767), Island of Mayotta [Mayotte] (9 September 1767), Island of Comero [Comoros] (13 September 1767) and Bombay [Mumbai] (14 October 1767)The entries for the voyage from Bombay to Tellicherry [Thalassery] (15 December 1767) and Callicut [Kozhikode] (22 December 1767)The entries for the voyage from Callicut to Cannanore [Kannur] (28 December 1767), Tellicherry (30 December 1767), Alguarda Fort [Fort Aguada] (7 January 1768) and Bombay (12 January 1768)The entries for the voyage from Bombay to Surat (20 February 1768), Island of Socratora [Socotra] (22 April 1768), Cape Guardafoy [Guardafui] (24 April 1768), Cape St Peters (26 April 1768), Cape St Anthony (30 April 1768), Babelmandel [Bab al-Mandab Strait] (1 May 1768) and Mocha (2 May 1768)The entries for the voyage from Mocha to the Island of Babelmandel [Jazirat Mayyun] (24 August 1768), Cape Aden (25 August 1768) and Bombay (9 September 1768) andThe entries for the voyage from Bombay to Fort Victoria (8 December 1768), Cape Basses (24 December 1768), Cape Delgada (3 January 1769), Mosambique [Mozambique] (6 January 1769), Cape Corientes [Cape Correntes] (17 January 1769), Table Land (7 February 1769), St Helena (22 February 1769), Island of Assension [Ascension Island] (20 March 1769), Margate (29 May 1769), Gravesend (31 May 1769) and Blackwall (15 June 1769).The journal contains daily entries in six columns: H [Hour]; Courses, K [Knots]; F [Fathoms]; Winds & etc.; and Week Day, Calendar Date and Observations. The entries consist of remarks only when the ship is at anchor. The journal provides navigational information, notes on the sightings of other vessels, and observations made during the voyages. The Captain mentions various forms of corporal punishment meted out to the soldiers, and a number of clashes with fleets of ‘Cooley boats’ (vessels operated by Kolis) in north-western India. He also mentions taking on board Arabian horses and bags of freight treasure at Mocha in Yemen.Physical description: The foliation sequence for this description (used for referencing) commences at f 1, and terminates at f 152; it is part of a larger physical volume of different shelfmarks in which this shelfmark has been given its own separate foliation sequence, i.e. non-consecutive; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.