Manuscript ship's journal, 50 pages, 8 x 12.5, dated October 16, 1844-April 21, 1845, bound in loose covers with a handwritten title, "Log of the proceedings of HMS 'Agincourt'—H. W. Bruce Esqr., Captain. Bearing the Flag of Rear Adml. Sir Th. Cochrane RN, From the 16th October 1844 to the 8th March 1845 [sic], Rept. by—Elphinstone D. D. Aplin, Mate." The log contains detailed daily entries tracking the ship's travels to Asia, including Chusan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Each day's entry provides the ship's bearings, speed, wind direction, and distance traveled, and contains remarks on the ship's maneuvers, signals, and activities. In addition to the need for constant maintenance plus sail and course correction, other ship activities included cutlass drill and mustering of the crew for general review, church services, and leisure time ashore for recreation and amusement. Occasional punishments are listed, with entries on March 13, 1845, "Punished Ed Bhilsly with 48 lashes for insolence," and March 20th, "Punished Jno. Elliott with 36 lashes for Insubordination." Expected wear to the covers (including tears, toning, and small areas of paper loss); interior pages are in fine condition. The journalist, Elphinstone D'Oyley D'Auvergne D. Aplin, joined the Royal Navy in 1838 and was appointed as acting lieutenant on the HMS Agincourt on April 2, 1845, while making the last entries in this log. He rose to command the HMS Hecla in the mid-to-late 1850s, and in 1861 commanded the HMS Centaur in China during the Taiping Rebellion.
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