Two Classic Tales of Australian Exploration : 1788 by Watkin Tench ; Life and Adventures by John Nicol
anthology
travel
Latest Issues
Contents
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1788
Sydney's First Four Years : Being a Reprint of 'A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay' and 'A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson',
selected work
prose
travel
(p. [i]-280)
Note: With title: 1788
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Life and Adventures, 1776-1801
The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner,
John Howell
(editor),
single work
prose
travel
'In his many voyages the Scottish-born sailor John Nicol twice circumnavigated the globe, visiting every inhabited continent while witnessing and participating in many of the greatest events of exploration and adventure in the eighteenth century. He traded with Native Americans on the St. Lawrence River and hunted whales in the Arctic Ocean. He fought for the British navy against American privateers in the Atlantic Ocean and Napoleon's navy in the Mediterranean Sea. In Grenada he witnessed the horrors of the slave system and befriended slaves who invited him to join in their dance celebrations. In the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) he was entertained by the king's court mere days after the murder of Captain James Cook. En route to Australia he would meet the love of his life, Sarah Whitlam, a convict bound for the Botany Bay prison colony, who would bear his son before duty forced them apart forever. At the end of his journeys, John Nicol returned to his homeland and a life of obscurity and poverty, until the publisher John Howell met him one day while he was wandering the streets of Edinburgh, searching for dregs of coal to fuel his hearth. After hearing the fascinating stories of Nicol's seafaring experiences, Howell convinced him to write his memoirs - the publication of which eventually earned Nicol enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his days.'--Book Jacket, 1999 American edition.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Australia in Brief
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 3 October no. 4931 1997;'These lower-deck reminiscences by John Nicol of life at sea in the late eighteenth century were written down and published in 1822 by John Howell, a Scottish bookbinder and inventor. How much of the language of the book is Nicol’s, and how much that of his kindly amanuensis, is impossible to tell; but there is no reason to doubt the general authenticity of the memoir. Nicol’s twenty-five years afloat were remarkable for their variety. He saw action in the War of American Independence; served in the Greenland whale fishery; was nursed back to life by a slave in the West Indies; marvelled at the customs of the Chinese. He was on the first ship into Hawaii after the death of Captain Cook at Kealakakua Bay, seven years earlier;…' (Introduction)
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Australia in Brief
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Times Literary Supplement , 3 October no. 4931 1997;'These lower-deck reminiscences by John Nicol of life at sea in the late eighteenth century were written down and published in 1822 by John Howell, a Scottish bookbinder and inventor. How much of the language of the book is Nicol’s, and how much that of his kindly amanuensis, is impossible to tell; but there is no reason to doubt the general authenticity of the memoir. Nicol’s twenty-five years afloat were remarkable for their variety. He saw action in the War of American Independence; served in the Greenland whale fishery; was nursed back to life by a slave in the West Indies; marvelled at the customs of the Chinese. He was on the first ship into Hawaii after the death of Captain Cook at Kealakakua Bay, seven years earlier;…' (Introduction)
