Uncatalogued: Poems by William Edward Mayes, master mariner
Two poems by William Edward Mayes (1831-1891) written during a voyage between Sydney and Singapore on the barque HARVEST HOME (1853) of London:
Acrostic poem written for his parents during the passage from Sourbaya (Surabaya) to Hong Kong and then Shanghai, between May and June 1858 (2 sheets):
‘With pleasure dear parents I write to inform you
In what part of the world I am in…’
Also a poem about the typhoon at Swatow (Shantou) on 21 September 1858 during which the HARVEST HOME was driven ashore, but later refloated (8 sheets):
‘Upon the China coast not long goodbye
A fleet of vessels did at anchor lie…’
The two poems feature in ‘Kewadin: William Edward Mayes and Two Trading Voyages in the 1870s’ by Michael E. Leveridge, Cambridge, 2015 (see PBH7479 in the Library collection).
Acrostic poem written for his parents during the passage from Sourbaya (Surabaya) to Hong Kong and then Shanghai, between May and June 1858 (2 sheets):
‘With pleasure dear parents I write to inform you
In what part of the world I am in…’
Also a poem about the typhoon at Swatow (Shantou) on 21 September 1858 during which the HARVEST HOME was driven ashore, but later refloated (8 sheets):
‘Upon the China coast not long goodbye
A fleet of vessels did at anchor lie…’
The two poems feature in ‘Kewadin: William Edward Mayes and Two Trading Voyages in the 1870s’ by Michael E. Leveridge, Cambridge, 2015 (see PBH7479 in the Library collection).