Travel Diaries and Journals

Robert Suggate journal and commonplace book, 1874-1878.

UPenn Ms. Coll. 831

This leather-bound, paginated memoir and commonplace book, which the author calls "My rough log very roughly kept," was written by Robert Suggate between 1874 and 1878. It is reconstructed from his memory and from a deteriorated journal that he kept on his voyage to China from 1830 to 1831. The volume includes copied poems; articles tipped in or fully pasted in; descriptive passages of islands and cities from Suggate's trip to Asia and of towns in England; and a detailed table of contents. Suggate describes his childhood, his fascination with the sea and fishing, and how his father brought him to Yarmouth, England where Suggate embarked on his first voyage on a small ship delivering flour to London. In 1830 Suggate boards an East India Company merchant ship named the William Lowther sailing for China to acquire a cargo of tea. Suggate records his experiences with the crew and describes the ocean, including such inhabitants as flying fish and jellyfish. He records an induction ritual, called the Neptune ceremony, for first-time sailors crossing the equatorial line. Suggate gives detailed descriptions of his encounters with the Chinese and discusses his excursion into the city of Canton, which was banned to foreigners. He also observes clothing and cultural symbols, in addition to witnessing a trade dispute between England and China as well as opium smuggling. Descriptive passages of islands and of cities and towns from his voyage follow the memoir, including a list of shells Suggate purchased on the trip. Continuing with his memoir, he explains that he gave up the life of a sailor in 1834 because he could not advance above ordinary seaman due to lack of navigational knowledge. Later in the volume are descriptions of towns and villages in England and recollections of events with his son Reginald. On pages 130-137 is the genealogical history of the Suggate family in another hand, possibly written by Reginald's stepson Herbert Frank Milne. In addition to the journal there is some correspondence from siblings of Robert Suggate, correspondence to and from Herbert Frank Milne, and memorabilia relating to the Suggate family.

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The Outward Bound.

And Oh! When the glace waves foam around, And the wind blows fair and free, The health that we drank to the "Outward Bound" Will come back to their memory.

Old friends will still seem near them, In their ocean-cradled sleep, And the dreaming though will cheer them, Far away on the lonely deep.

Then till while the mid-watch passes, Fill, the toast let it circle around, From full hearts and brimming glasses, And, hurrah! for the "Outward Bound"!

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The Nautilus and the Ammonite

The Nautilus and the Ammonite, Were launched in storm and strife, Each sent to float, in its tiny boat, On the wide, wild sea of life.

And each could swim on the ocean's brim, And anon its sail could furl, And sink to sleep in the great sea deep, In a palace all of pearl.

And their's was a bliss more fain than this, That we feel in our colder time, For they were rife in a tropic life, In a brighter, happier clime.

They swam 'mid [amid] isles whose summer smiles, No wintry winds annoy; Whose groves were palm, whose air was balm, Whose life was only joy.

They roam'd [roamed] all day through creek and bay And travers'd [traversed] the ocean deep, And at night they sank on a coral bank, In its fairy bowers to sleep.

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And the monsters vast of ages past, They beheld in their ocean caves; And saw them ride in their power and pride, And sink to their billowy graves.

Thus hand in hand, from strand to strand, They sail'd [sailed] in mirth and glee. Those fairy shells, with their crystal cells, Twin creatures of the sea.

But they came at last to a sea long past And as they reach'd [reached] its shore The Almighty's breath spake out in death, And the Ammonite liv'd [lived] no more.

And the Nautilus now in its shelly prow, As o'er [over] the deep it strays, Still seems to seek in bay and creek, Its companion of other days.

And thus do we, in life's stormy sea, As we roam from shore to shore; While tempest-tost, seek the lov'd [loved] - the lost, And find them on earth no more!

[[G. F. Richardson]]

Last edit over 3 years ago by lrile

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