Finding Aid for the John Edward Davis's Log of H.M.S. Samarang, 1831-1834
Cataloged by Jonathan Naito, with assistance from Jain Fletcher and Laurel McPhee, August 2004; machine-readable finding aid
created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
UCLA Library Special Collections staff
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/special/scweb/
© 2009
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: John Edward Davis's Log of H.M.S. Samarang
Date (inclusive): 1831-1834
Collection number: 170/336
Creator:
Davis, John Edward, 1816-1877
Extent:
201 leaves : paper, ill., 5 maps ; 308 x 190 mm. bound to 320 x 205 mm.
Abstract: This illustrated log records the travels of H.M.S. Samarang, a ship of the British Royal Navy that was engaged in surveying
coastal areas of Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Panama, and Mexico from 1831-1834.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. Advance notice required for access. Contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Ex libris John Edwards Davis, his bookplate on upper pastedown.
Processing Note
Cataloged by Jonathan Naito, with assistance from Jain Fletcher and Laurel McPhee, August 2004, in the Center For Primary
Research and Training (CFPRT).
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], John Edward Davis's Log of H.M.S. Samarang (Collection 170/336). UCLA Library Special Collections,
Charles E. Young Research Library.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Little is known about John Edward Davis (1816-1877). His bookplate states "Master Royal Navy". The manuscript suggests that
from 1831-1834, H.M.S. Samarang was engaged in surveying in Central and South America. From 1843-1846, Sir Edward Belcher
(1799-1877) captained H.M.S. Samarang during his travels along the Pacific Coast of North America and throughout Oceania and
Southeast Asia. As with his other voyages, these expeditions made contributions to the fields of natural history and ethnography;
Belcher published a narrative of his time aboard H.M.S. Samarang in 1848.
Scope and Content
The H.M.S. Samarang traveled from Prawl Point in Devon to Rio De Janeiro in the summer of 1831; it then spent the next three
years traveling from Brazil to Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Panama, and Mexico. The journal ends abruptly on September 28, 1831 with
the ship in Chile. The log employs a standard, basic format with notes on wind, weather, activities onboard, and the ship's
coordinates, course, and distance from its destination recorded four times daily: AM, PM, sunset, and midnight.
The manuscript is supplemented with 32 illustrations. These include schematic drawings of the ship's ballast and tanks, as
well as watercolour and pen-and-ink illustrations of small islands or coastal areas in the Americas and five maps of prominent
ports, all of which apparently done by the log's author. The most ambitious of these illustrations is a large, detailed map
of the Bahia coast; there are also smaller maps of Maceio, Panama Bay, Acapulco, and Guayama. The watercolour and pen-and-ink
illustrations generally depict small islands or coastal areas from the perspective of the ship; all are labeled with a location
and approximate distance from the ship.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Genres and Forms of Material
Manuscripts.
Related Material
Note
Layout: Ruled pages with an average of 5 columns and 5 rows per page. When at sea, each page holds four entries; when moored,
each page holds four to six entries.
Script: Cursive.
Binding: Brown cloth over boards. Black label on front cover with gilt stamping.
ff. 3r-8r: England (Prawl Point, Lizard Point, St. Michael)
ff. 21v-65r: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Maceio, Pernambuco, Bahia)
ff. 70r-92v: Uruguay and Chile (Montevideo, Valparaiso, Coquimbo)
ff. 105v-124r: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Bahia)
Physical Description: (290 x 510 mm. insert between 113v-114r)
Scope and Content Note
includes a large, detailed chart of the Bahia coast from a survey by the officers of H.M.S. Samarang
ff. 133v-143r: Chile, Peru, Panama (Valparaiso, Callao Bay, Panama Bay)
ff. 162v-168v: Mexico (Gulf of California)
ff. 181v-198v: Chile (Valaparaiso, Coquimbo).
