The East India Company and
Trade with China
At the time of the journey recorded in this logbook, the East India Company was actively looking to establish trade with China. Led by Captain Roberts, this expedition stopped at Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia) en route to its final destination, Ningpo. On its return from China in October 1702, it stopped at the Vietnamese offshore island of Pulo Condore (Côn , in Vietnamese), conveniently located astride the main sea route up the South China Sea. Less than a year later, the Company established an ill-fated fortified settlement on the island. In 1706 nearly all of the settlers on the island were massacred by Bugis mercenaries in English employ. The English never again occupied the island. Sketches of shorelines, birds, fishes, and other sea creatures adorn a number of the book's pages. Information about the ship, the Sarah Gally, is sketchy in East India Company records, with registers recording only a 1700-1701 journey to "India"—but no trip to China. The Company often hired ships for specific voyages, which may explain the occurrence of only one journey listed in the register—this one being "a second voyage to ye East Indies."

Journall of a second voyage to ye East Indies & China in ye Sarah gally, Capt. Jno. Roberts command, in ye service of ye Honble English Company tradeing to ye East Indies: begun ye 19th November 1700. The journal records the voyage from November 19, 1700 through 1703. Gift of Charles Wason.

continue tour

Copyright © 2002 Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections
2B Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853
Phone Number: (607) 255-3530. Fax Number: (607) 255-9524

For reference questions, send mail to: rareref@cornell.edu
If you have questions or comments about the site, send mail to: webmaster.