Description
Book SynopsisThis volume publishes for the first time, the journal kept by John Looker (?16701715) recording his service as ship's surgeon on the Blackham Galley, a London-built merchantman on its second trading voyage to the Levant, between December 1696 and March 1698. divides naturally into three parts. The Blackham Galley's outward and homeward voyages were largely without incident. The time spent by the Blackham Galley in Turkish waters, covers its voyage from Smyrna to Constantinople, where the ship stayed for a month, and then returned to Smyrna. Captain Newnam's ill-advised and disastrous attempt at privateering in Ottoman waters on the return journey to Smyrna, led to the detention of his vessel at Smyrna. Looker's account of the Blackham Galley's enforced stay in Smyrna furnishes a detailed account of social life in the international merchant community, as well as portside life seen from below', with its taverns and prostitutes, and the activities and frequent debauches' of an increasingly bored and fractious crew. Looker's record also provides interesting detail of his professional approach to treatment of the illnesses, accidents and occasional deaths of members of the company of his own and other ships anchored off Smyrna.
Table of ContentsList of Maps and Illustrations / Preface and Acknowledgements / List of Abbreviations / INTRODUCTION / 1. The Author and his Manuscrıpt / a: John Looker: the man behind the ‘Journall’ / b: Looker’s ‘Journall’: an Example of Artisanal Autobiography / c: Looker’s ‘Journall’: the Provenance of National Maritime Museum MS PHB/6 / 2. The Early History of the Blackham Galley / a: Construction and Purchase / b. The Blackham Galley’s First Voyage (1694–6) / 3. Looker’s Journey on the Blackham Galley (1696–1698) / a: The Outward Voyage: Gravesend to Messina, Smyrna and Istanbul: 12th December 1696 to 20th April 1697 / b: Privateering and Detention in Smyrna: 20th April 1697 to 2nd January 1698 / c: The Return Voyage: Smyrna to Messina, Malaga, and the Thames; 2nd January–14th March 1698 / 4. Understanding Looker’s ‘Journall’ / a: John Looker as a Tourist / b: Risks and Dangers of the English Levant Trade / c: Consuls’ roles and the Ottoman interdict / d: Social Relations on board the Blackham Galley / e: Health, Sickness and Death on board / 5. The End of the Blackham Galley / 6. Editorial Conventions Adopted in the Transcription of Looker’s Journal / THE ‘JOURNALL’ OF JOHN LOOKER, SHIP’S SURGEON / APPENDICES / 1. Lord Paget, the Ottomans, and the Detention of the Blackham Galley / 2. Identified Members of the Company of the Blackham Galley under Captain Charles Newnam / 3. Wills of Members of the Crew of the Blackham Galley /4. The Homeward Lading of the Blackham Galley, 13th May–29th December 1697 as Recorded in John Looker’s Journall / 5. Documents on the Appraısal and Sale of the Blackham Galley, London, February 1699 / 6. The will, drawn up on 8 Feb. 1714/5 (OS), of John Looker, surgeon, who died at Bath 23 May 1715 / BIBLIOGRAPHY / INDEX.
