Memoirs of a Voyage Around the World in the Ship Aspasia, Capt. Fanning… “What is this world? thy school O misery!” “And he who knows not how to suffer” “Was born for nothing”. [Edward] Young.

Various locations from New York to Canton, etc., 1800-1802. 4to, original marbled paper wrappers. 29 pp. of manuscript on 19 ff. Laid into a later marbled paper folder, housed in a half leather clamshell box, with gilt title at spine.

A fascinating manuscript journal of an early American voyage to China, written by the remarkable Connecticut mariner Donald Mackay, steward aboard the ship Aspasia, commanded by Edmund Fanning, renowned explorer of the South Seas and pioneer of the China Trade.

Mackay’s journal records the 1800–02 circumnavigation of the ship Aspasia in pursuit of seal skins on the islands of the South Atlantic to sell in Canton—Commander Edmund Fanning’s second voyage to China.

Mackay begins his journal on Feb. 20, 1800, as he leaves home for Old Greenwich, where he stays with friends, then proceeds to New York in the company of a Capt. C. Lockwood, who is to join him aboard the Aspasia. On May 3, the Aspasia gets underway briefly, then anchors at Staten Island. According to Edmund Fanning’s account of this voyage, published in his Voyages Round the World (NY, 1833), the crews of the Aspasia and the British Frigate Cleopatra had a contentious encounter at a public house on the Island while the two vessels were anchored there; several of the Cleopatra’s crew (said by Fanning to be impressed American seamen) had been removed by the U.S. authorities, and the British captain had threatened to replace those lost men from any American vessel he could board. On May 13, the Aspasia beats out in company with the Cleopatra, prepared to defend herself if necessary. However, Mackay makes no further mention of the Cleopatra, and Fanning’s account confirms that nothing came of these tensions.

By July 6, the Aspasia has arrived at Pernambuco on the coast of Brazil. After Brazilian officers verify that their ship is neither English nor housing smugglers, they are welcomed as apparently “the 2d American ship ever here." On Aug. 14 they attempt to land a boat on Inaccessible Island, but finding it lives up to its name, they proceed to Tristian de Cunha, a splendid snow-capped island of 2600 feet. No seals could be found so they aim for South Georgia, arriving on Sept. 15 and hoping to rendezvous with a company schooner at Sparrow Bay. However, “Capt. E. Fanning went on shore in expectation of finding the crew of the Schooner but was greatly disappointed to find the huts abandoned” (the crew, they learn, had taken passage in an English ship). Prospects are generally “gloomy,” as they had expected to obtain a cargo of skins from the crew, so they build a shallop—a remarkable feat under the circumstances—and buy another from “Mr. Cheney who was cast away here in the Minerva from Hudson.” Cheney and his crew of nine hands join them, as they begin hunting seals at “the best stations” on the island. Mackay provides an excellent account of their activities, carried out under exceedingly harsh circumstances on this remote island known as the gateway to the Antarctic.

On Feb. 8, 1801, they attempt to leave the harbor but it takes nine days to get underway after being becalmed and then beset by a violent storm. By March 20 they have made it around Cape Horn. On April 3 they arrive in the bay of the Island of St. Mary, where they find ten American ships. Previously a Spanish settlement, they find fruit trees and wild hogs here, and dry 10,000 skins. Arriving in Valparaiso on May 1, Captains Edmund and Henry Fanning go ashore to present papers to the Spanish governor. On May 8, the Spanish governor decides to “detain our ship, under suspicion of our being English.” A deserter from an American ship has falsely sworn that the Aspasia is an English ship and, upon resolving the matter, the American is apprehended and punished. On May 17, the crew celebrates release from detention; on May 22 they ship-out, heading N.E. Arriving in Coquimbo, Chile on May 27, the crew pretends to have sprung a fore-mast and put in to refit. They are visited by customs officials who seem satisfied, but who likely suspect them to be smugglers. Mackay provides a good description of the town and vicinity, and comments on the Cordillera. Departing Coquimbo on June 3, they reach the island of Saypan on Aug. 7. Capt. Henry Fanning, Capt. Williams, and Mr Williams go ashore in whaleboats. They learn that there are now no inhabitants, the natives, formerly numerous, “inhumanly butcher’d by the conquerors.” On Sept. 1, they pass the Babuyan Islands of the Philippines. On Sept. 6, they reach China, and while on Macoa [Macau]—which belongs to the Portuguese—they receive an American newspaper and get wind of news back home. Fanning procures a pilot to take them up the River Tigris (known today as the Bocca Tigris, the Pearl River’s estuary).

Upon reaching the harbor of the Tigris—where they find American, English, and Danish vessels—they discover that many of their seal skins are damaged and that skins are selling “very low.” On Sept. 18, Mackay reports that the skins have been sold “and we have begun to discharge them.” He imagines they “went very cheap!” On Oct. 7, he travels to Canton, which is situated on the N.E. side of the Tigris where there are factories of the European settlers. Here Mackay offers extended remarks on such subjects as the gardening practices of the Chinese, their architecture, government, and culture. Departing from China, Mackay notes the ship’s expenses during their stay in Canton total 9,000 dollars. They proceed to Sumatra, where “gold dust is procured by the Natives in vast quantities.” On Nov. 22 they arrive at the Island of Krakatoa, and on Jan. 3, 1802 the Aspasia is on a bank off the Cape of Good Hope.

Donald Mackay’s appearance in the historical record is largely limited to his own journals and papers, as well as Fanning’s mention of him. He appears to have been from Fanning’s home town of Stonington, Connecticut, as a note inside the front cover would seem to indicate, but we have not been able to confirm this. In addition to the present voyage under Fanning, Mackay was also the Captain of one of the few American voyages to visit the Fiji Islands in this early period, that of the Schooner Brothers from 1809 to 1810, and he was 1st Officer aboard the Sea Fox under Fanning on a voyage to the South Seas in 1817 (as witnessed by a manuscript list of the crew members in our possession). Perhaps most significantly, Mackay was among the first wave of American sealer-explorers to venture to the newly discovered South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic for the 1820-21 season, sailing out of New York on the ship Aurora under Captain Robert Macy. While there, Mackay drafted a chart of Yankee Harbor at Greenwich Island, which is one of the earliest extant charts by an American of any portion of Antarctica. Mackay’s journal of the South Shetlands is in the collections of the Nantucket Historical Society. It is one of a handful of journals of the 1820–21 season to survive, and is distinguished from the others by its wealth of observations, many of scientific value. This journal was the subject of an article in The Minerva (NY, June 1, 1822, No. 8, Vol. 1), being at that time in the possession of Samuel Latham Mitchill (1764–1831), one of the leading American men of science at the time. Mackay was a man of both scientific and literary interests. His taste for poetry is expressed in various epigraphs and extracts in his manuscripts (which seem to have given him solace at sea), as well as his own lyrical musings. A good writer, Mackay was also a skilled draftsman, as evidenced by his Yankee Harbor chart, as well as a series of manuscript charts of the Falkland Islands executed in 1821.

Edmund Fanning (1769–1841), known as “The Pathfinder of the Pacific,” was a ship-captain, explorer, and South Seas trade promoter. He was born in Stonington, Connecticut, and named for his uncle, General Edmund Fanning of the British army. Fanning attended school until the age of fourteen, then went to sea as a cabin boy on a coastal trader, rising to mate by the age of twenty-one. He first experienced the southern latitudes as first mate on a sealing voyage to the Falkland Islands in 1792. The following year he received his first command, a West Indian brig. Fanning first came to notice for the highly successful China trade voyage of the ship Betsey in 1797–98. Sailing around Cape Horn, he and the crew obtained a large cargo of sealskins near Juan Fernandez, then discovered the archipelago known today as Fanning’s Islands. Sailing to Canton, Fanning traded the skins for goods that sold in New York for $120,467, netting the owners of the Betsey a profit of $53,118 and $15,000 for himself. His second voyage—the one documented in this journal—was not as successful. Nevertheless, he devoted the remainder of his life to the China trade, living in New York, organizing many voyages, and occasionally going to sea himself. He was a tireless promoter of the exploration of the Pacific, and one of the chief advocates of the Wilkes Expedition, the official support for which his efforts, including the publication of Voyages Around the World, helped to secure.

Mackay’s journal and Fanning’s published account of the voyage make for a very interesting comparison. There are many parallels, of course, but each is distinct, providing much detail not mentioned by the other.

SOME REPRESENTATIVE PASSAGES:

South Georgia Island, 17 September 1800: Capt. E. Fanning, Dr. Smith, Mr. Utt, the Carpenter, myself, and Charley Daggett were all that remained on board. We received the skins on board from the shallops and salted them away. When time would admit we made exertions around this & the neighboring Bays, when we kill’d sometimes 70 or 80 seals in about 4 hours, not venturing ourselves long away from the ship…as it would be impossible to row her against the gales of this country, nor could we hawl her upon the beach to prevent her staving in the surf…the crew endured the inclemency of this cold and boistrous region with astonishing spirit for four months and 23 Days—With incredible fatique and danger we procured a cargo of skins without the loss of a man, or Boat a circumstance that occurs to few ships that get a cargo here…

Saypan, 7 August 1801 Humanity shudders when reflecting on the horrid devastations of the Spaniards on those peaceable, & innocent inhabitance, who might still have continued to enjoy very terrestrial happiness on the three beautiful islands, […] they stand a moment of Spanish barbarity, and the judgment of heaven who by disease and sword has extinguished those murderers from their conquest.

River Tigris, China, 6 September 1801 We again made sail and plied up the river; the borders of which were beautified by extensive fields of rice or paddy, and the farther we proceeded on our course the more delightful became the surrounding scenery—To us who had been so long from witnessing a cultivated country…this appeared extremely charming—At the distance of 2 leagues we were met by a great number of wash girls who were alongside in their boats to engage our washing.

Canton, 7 October 1801 The art of gardening has its origin in China; though the English it is said have improved upon this invention so that they now far exceed the Chinese—but the gardens, & pleasure grounds of the latter, exceed any thing of the kind I have ever seen…formed with vast labor and expense…The Pagodas are stupendous buildings situated on hills nigh the river, about 7 miles distant from each other and serve as telegraphs, to convey intelligence by signals—They extend in the same manner to Pekin so that intelligence is conveyed to the seat of government in a surprising short time in case of invasion…The Chinese government is despotic in a superlative degree; here is no security of person or property against the avaricious mandarins, who have power to levy what tax, or contribution they think proper…They don’t fail in using their authority over the miserable inhabitance on the water, from whom they take every farthing they can find in their Boats and in case they get no money from them give the poor souls an unmerciful beating…The Chinese are notorious cheats…In their religion they are Pagans,…Idolaters, and amazingly superstitious…The Chinese women, in my opinion are the most miserable of the human race—Those in the boats are allowed to come alongside the shipping in the day time, but if caught there at night by the Mandarin, he gives them a shocking caning, and if they are caught in, or coming out of a ship, the girl has her head cut in pieces and the ship is seized.

South Atlantic[?], final journal entry, 16 February 1802: We have witness’d various unfathomable phenomena of nature…Every prospect of a speedy, and pleasant conclusion of our lengthy voyage is at present ours—language is inadequate to paint the happenings of that long wish’d for period—what joy to be again united to friends, and society, after an absence of 2 years, in which we have circumnavigated this Globe…

A rare, important, and colorful record of an early American China Trade voyage, complementing that of its commander.

CONDITION: Wrappers detached, chipped and worn; contents generally good, a few leaves with loss affecting text at inner edges, but no significant loss of sense, brown stains at the bottom of most leaves, some damp-staining.

REFERENCES: Fanning, Edmund, Voyages Round the World : with selected sketches of voyages to the South Seas, North and South Pacific Oceans, China, etc. New York, 1833. Especially pp. 285-313; Dictionary of American Biography.