From a chance acquisition of a battered leather-bound notebook, an
extensive and extremely well-written narrative was revealed which
recounted the life of a midshipman in the East India Company,
through to the time when he owned his own vessels and settled in
Tasmania. "Chronometer Jack" is an outstanding autobiography by
John Miller, an Edinburgh-born Shipmaster and Coastguard officer,
an educated man whose working life commenced on board East India
Company ships. It provides many insights into the tough but
sometimes amusing life under William Younghusband on the Lord
Castlereagh, the tyrannical Tommy Larkins on the Marquis Camden and
Thomas Balderston on the Asia. Seconded to an opium vessel and the
associated risks of trading in opium in the 1820s, Miller
experienced the trauma of capture by the Chinese. Returning to
Scotland, he married Jessie Adamson, the sister of John and Robert,
famed pioneers of photography. Later, Miller set up in business as
a master-shipowner in the convict colony of Tasmania, trading
mainly with Sydney and Port Phillip. The gripping narrative is full
of incident and unforgettable characters and his first-hand
observations on society in Van Diemen's Land when still a convict
colony make compelling reading. Bankrupted, Miller and his family
were forced to return to Britain where circumstances forced him to
join the Coastguard, serving in Northumberland, Tynemouth and
Lincolnshire. His frustrations with bureaucracy, the higher status
accorded former Royal Navy Officers and, in his recruiting
capacity, the relatively poor quality of seamen joining the Royal
Naval Reserve, constantly surface in the text - a rare insight into
the occupation and tribulations experienced by a Coastguard officer
in the 1850s and '60s. Although Captain Miller's original
manuscript included numerous references to people identified only
by an initial letter, most of these were subsequently identified,
providing his narrative with a rich and well-attested
circumstantial context.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(4)
(3)
