The Levant Voyage of the Blackham Galley (1696–1698): The Sea Journal of John Looker, Ship's Surgeon

Description

This volume publishes for the first time, the journal kept by John Looker (?1670—1715) 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. Preserved in the Caird Library of the National Maritime Museum, Looker’s ‘Journall’ describes his experiences on the voyage from the point at which he joined the ship at Gravesend, to March 1698, when the journal breaks off abruptly in mid-sentence when the ship was off the Kentish ‘Narrows’. John Looker was a Londoner, brought up in one of the parishes to the east of the City which furnished large numbers of mariners to the English sea-borne trades. He served an apprenticeship to a London barber-surgeon, and became a Freeman of the Company of Barber-Surgeons. His fifteen months of service on board the Blackham Galley appears to have been his only employment at sea, but his ready knowledge of maritime ways and language, which are apparent from the first pages of his ‘Journall’, make it more than likely that he came from a seafaring family. Subsequent to his voyage, he married, raised a family, practiced in London as a surgeon, and acquired land in East Anglia. He died at Bath in 1715. Looker’s ‘Journall’ 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 under a double interdict from the English ambassador at the Porte and from the Ottoman authorities. Looker’s account of the Blackham Galley’s enforced stay in Smyrna furnishes a vigorous and 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. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Maps and Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. The Author and His Manuscript 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 (1696–8) a. The Outward Voyage: Gravesend to Messina, Smyrna and Istanbul (12 December 1696–20 April 1697) b. Privateering and Detention in Smyrna (20 April 1697–2 January 1698) c. The Return Voyage: Smyrna to Messina, Malaga, and the Thames (2 January–14 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, 13 May–29 December 1697, as Recorded in John Looker’s ‘Journall’ 5. Documents on the Appraisal and Sale of the Blackham Galley, London, February 1699 6. The Will, Drawn up on 8 February 1714/15 (OS), of John Looker, Surgeon, Who Died at Bath 23 May 1715 Bibliography Index