Printed transcript of 'The Jura Journal' written by Martin Bienvenu as an ordinary seaman on the JURA (1857), owned by Watson & Kidd, Glasgow, covering a voyage that commenced at London on 29 September 1859 and terminated at Liverpool on 5 May 1862.

The JURA sailed from the Downs on 2 October 1859, bound for New Zealand with 85 emigrants on board. Bienvenu describes some of the passengers and his crewmates, celebrations when crossing the equator, and entertainment provided by some Māori after the ship had arrived at Auckland on 14 January 1860. The JURA sailed for Hong Kong and arrived there on 15 May 1860. She was then used as a hired transport during the Second China War. Bienvenu describes the cattle, soldiers and military supplies taken on board, and the British and French fleets at Peiho River. He also describes visits to Japan, Siam and the Philippines. The journal ends with the arrival of the ship at Liverpool and the presentation of a silver snuff box to Captain Robert Chambers.

Administrative / biographical background
Martin Bienvenu was born at St Peter Port, Guernsey, in 1840. He first went to sea as a boy on the barque TIMES (1854) of Guernsey in 1854. His next ship was the full-rigged ship JURA (1857) of Glasgow. He was then employed as mate on several vessels trading out of Guernsey before qualifying as master (certificate number 26482) in 1873. He died of pneumonia in 1875, two months before the birth of his third child.