Beschreibung:

RICHARD BATE (b.1736)
RICHARD BATE (b.1736) Apparently autograph manuscript autobiography and journal, 'The Life of R* B*', a fair copy, inscribed to his brother and dated Tellicherry, 16 December 1770, in 17 chapters, covering events from 1750 to 1770, illustrated with 39 full-page and 15 folding drawings, and three vignettes (one unfinished), in pencil, ink and wash, and watercolour, a few heightened with gold leaf, including topographical views of Charlestown, Havana, St Jago, Anjengo, Bombay and Tellicherry, together with maps (of Bombay and Salset), a portrait, and detailed drawings of fish, reptiles, insects and other wildlife, approximately 309 pages, 4to (250 x 185mm), original pagination, a pocket pasted inside upper cover labelled by Bate 'My honoured Father's Instructions to me at setting out for Portsmouth 1 January 1750 ...', (the enclosed letter now separate and fragmentary); autograph note by J. Hollwall pasted to front endleaf, certifying Bate's good conduct and service as Midshipman on board the Mermaid under his command, 26 May 1752 to 24 July 1753; end pastedown cut to enclose an oval bust-length portrait of a woman, ink and wash on card (neat tear to fold of one plate, 'South view of Moyland Fort', short marginal tears to 2 folding plates, some light surface soiling, occasionally touching plates). Contemporary calf, bound in Tellicherry (worn); together with , Richard Bate, autograph letter to his sister 'Betsy', Bombay, 10 February 1761, one page, 12mo , enclosing a cut-paper image of the Trinity. A remarkable account by an English merchant of his voyages to the East Indies and America in the 18th century, with fine illustrations. A lively and detailed journal, the opening chapters describe the events of Bate's early life, from 1750 when, at the age of fourteen, he entered the Navy as a seaman on board the sloop of war, Scorpion , and then served as an officer on his uncle's 'twenty Gun Ship', the Mermaid . This first period of life at sea includes descriptions of a near-drowning incident in his canoe on the Cape Fear River, north Carolina, learning the art of navigation whilst stationed in Charles Town, South Carolina, surviving a hurricane there ('no longer the proud the flourishing Charles town, -- decked with elegant buildings & beautified with Gardens -- but the whole an heap of confusion'), and exploring the harbour and city of Havana. Returning to London in 1753, following a brief period as a Midshipman and deciding against a career in the Navy, Bate was appointed a 'writer to the India Company' in Bombay on 29 January 1755. He sailed for the East Indies on 24 March on board the Indiaman Stretham , via the Island of St Jago, the Cape of Good Hope, stopping at Madagascar in September, and reaching Bombay on 9 November. By March 1757 Bate was working for the Company in Anjengo on the coast of Malabar, returning to Bombay in 1760, making trips down the coast, visiting the Caves of Kenaree, Salset, and staying with his sister in Calcutta in 1764. Chapter 17 marks a change in Bate's narrative, when on 23 January 1765 he begins a daily journal, titled 'A Voyage towards Bombay' on the yacht Calcutta , reaching Madras on the anniversary of the French raising the seige of 1759, Bate describing his meeting with General Stringer Laurence (1697-1775) at Admiralty House ('the sight of an officer so ... instrumental in defeating the purposes of our Enemies gave me great pleasure and I complimented him on the occasion ... "Aye" cried the old man, pointing with his cane over the Rampart ... "there the French had a battery, and there ... we routed the Dogs in a Sally"'). Sailing on to Ceylon, Bate relates an amusing meeting with the Dutch deputy governor at Colombo, in addition to a detailed description and history of Ceylon, with observations on the 'monopoly and riches' of the Dutch. Passing Cape Comorine, and giving an account of 'Angria ... the Arch-pirate of the Malabar Coast', Bate ends his journal in Tellicherry, where he is dis