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[East India Company Log Book] A journall by Gods permission of our intended voyage to Borneo in the East Indies in the Seaford, Capt. Martin Gardiner Comander. By Henry Keene. Commencing from Monday the 3rd Day of May, Anno Dmi. 1703
- Publication date: 3 May 1703 - 8 August 1706
- Physical description: Folio, 315 by 200mm., 174pp., contemporary vellum, some light marginal browning, binding soiled, spine worn
- Inventory reference: 2305
Notes
The Seaford travelled to Borneo via Batavia, Banjarr, Condore, the coast of Cambodia, and Tong and returned via the Cape of Good Hope.
Allen Catchpoole of the East India Company had persuaded the Company to set up a trading base at Pulo Condore, an island off the coast of Cochinchina, in 1701, to serve as an outpost from which to trade with China, as well as to trade chili pepper from Pulo Condore itself. This project came to a speedy end when all the members of the British settlement were murdered in 1705 by local Malays. Keene’s journal of 13 June 1705 refers to this episode, listing the names of those murdered, and of those who escaped.
A similar logbook is in the East India Collection at the British Library (CXLIX Log book of the Seaford. Journal of a voyage to Batavia, Macao and Canton. Captain Martin Gardiner, 1 September 1700- 17 September 1702. East India Company: Ships’ Logs, Ledgers and Receipt Books, 1605-1701).
Early East India Company logbooks such as this are rare.
Provenance
John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton (1867-1947) and thence by descent. Lord Gretton was a British businessman and Conservative politician. The eldest son of John Gretton of Burton upon Trent, Gretton was educated at Harrow School. He was Chairman of Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton Ltd, and also served as a Colonel in the Territorial Army. In 1895 he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Derbyshire South, a seat he held until 1906, and then represented Rutland from 1907 to 1918 and Burton from 1918 to 1943. Gretton was made a CBE in 1919 and admitted to the Privy Council in 1926. In 1944 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Gretton, of Stapleford in the County of Leicester.
A noted yachtsman, Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games. He is unique in winning an Olympic gold medal whilst serving as a member of the House of Commons.
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Find Us
New York
PO Box 329, Larchmont, NY, USA
Opening hours, London Gallery
Monday to Friday: 10:00 – 18:00
Saturday: by appointment
Closed: all bank holidays and 1-31 August
Opening hours, New York
By appointment only