EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION OF CAPTAIN BERNARD WHITTINGHAM'S NOTES

WHITTINGHAM, BERNARD (CAPT.).

Notes on the Late Expedition against the Russian Settlements in Eastern Siberia And of a Visit to Japan and to the Shores of Tartary, and of the Sea of Okhostk.

London, Longman, Brown, Green, And Longman, 1856, 8vo. In the original full embossed red cloth, rebacked, preserving most of the original spine. Map with 10 cm long tear. Wear to extremities and 1 quire lose. Otherwise internally fine. (I)-XV, 300, (1)-4, 24 pp. + 1 folded map.

The exceedingly rare first edition of Captain Bernard Whittingham's notes on his voyage from Hong Kong aboard HMS Sibylle to the Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia. Here he recounts in detail the movements and actions of HMS Sybille, including the period of the capture of the Diana's crew (under the command Nikolai Baron Schilling) and their transfer in Hong Kong to other Royal Navy ships.

Whittingham had volunteered to join an Allied squadron attempting 'to discover the progress of Russian aggrandisement in North-eastern Asia, and to ascertain how far the reports of her successful encroachment on the sea frontiers of China and Japan were true'. In the context of the Crimean War's Pacific theatre, he was also keen to see avenged the Royal Navy's defeat by the Russians at Petropavlovsk the previous year.

"Between March and May, the British Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Bruce, assembled his fleet in preparation for a renewed attack on Petropavlovsk to be carried out in May. On March 26 (7), the frigate HMS Sybille (Commodore the Hon. Charles Elliot), steam corvette HMS Hornet and brig HMS Bittern left Hong Kong under instructions from Rear Admiral Sir James Stirling, Commander-in-Chief on the China station.
By April 2 (14) the Screw Steam Ship HMS Encounter (Captain George William Douglas O'Callagan) and the Paddle Wheel Steam Sloop HMS Barracouta (Commander Frederick Henry Stirling), both vessels detached for the purpose from the East India station by Rear Admiral Stirling, were in position at the rendezvous position patrolling some distance off Petropavlovsk. Accuracy in the accounts of the events involving HMS Sybille and HMS Barracouta is greatly enhanced by the existence of contemporary journals written by Captain Bernard Whittingham, Royal Engineers, travelling as an observer on HMS Sybille, and by Assistant Surgeon John M Tronson, of HMS Barracouta." (Girad, "Setting the Scene").

The present publication consists of the authors partially unedited notes: "The following rough notes were originally pencilled at intervals of a few days, to refresh the recollections of their writer, and they have subsequently been copied amidst the bustle of the saloons of crowded Oriental steamers; and as the duties of the writer's profession preclude any attempt to remould or amplify them, they are offered in their present unpolished form, in the hope that the slight and meagre information they afford of lands comparatively unknown - the Japan Islands, and the shores of Tartary and Eastern Siberia - may interest the public." (from the preface).

Order-nr.: 56189