THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Series One: The Papers of Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753 from the British Library, London

Part 3: Manuscript Records of Voyages of Discovery, 1450-1750

Sir Hans Sloane's interest in voyages of discovery and exploration can be traced to his own early experiences. Born in Dublin, he came to London in 1679, aged 19, and spent four years studying medicine and botany. He came under the influence of Robert Boyle and John Ray who encouraged him to travel abroad. He went to Paris in 1683 and studied under Tournefort and Sanlyon at the Jardin Royal des Plantes and the Hopital de la Charite, gaining his MD from the University of Orange. Then he declined to embark on a Grand Tour to Italy and instead spent a year at Montpellier under the tutelage of Pierre Chirac and Pierre Magnol. He returned to England in 1684, but the travelling did not stop, for he was appointed personal physician to Christopher Monck, second Duke of Albermarle, newly appointed governor of Jamaica.

John Ray was enthusiastic about this opportunity for Sloane to "search out and examine thoroughly the natural varieties of that island" notwithstanding "the danger and hazard of so long a voyage." Sloane and the Duke sailed for Jamaica in October 1687 and, after brief respites in Madeira and Canaries, reached Barbados in late November. They then proceeded to Jamaica, via Nevis, Santa Cruz, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Sloane took detailed notes all the while and immersed himself in the natural history of the region as well as attending to his duties as a physician. The latter brought him into contact with a number of travellers and reformed pirates who had settled on the island. Sloane's visit was curtailed by the death of the Duke in October 1688, and Sloane sailed for home in March 1689, not knowing that there was a new King (William of Orange) on the throne.

Sloane then settled into a life as an eminent society physician and a great figure in the scientific societies of his time. He gained the respect of his peers by gradually collating, analysing and publishing the results of his earlier explorations in Jamaica. This culminated with his Voyage to the Islands of Madeira, Barbados, Nieves, St Christopher’s and Jamaica (London, 1707 and 1725).

As a collector Sloane also continued to amass a vast library of original manuscripts relating to travel, voyages of discovery and the sea. These range from William Dampier's own account of his voyage to the South Seas and the fringes of Australia, 1682-1691 (Sloane 3236), and the Charter granted to the Company of Royal Adventurers relating to trade in Africa, (Sloane 205), to letters of Sir Walter Raleigh regarding the Guiana expedition of 1617-1618 (Sloane 3520). Highlights include:

- Sloane 42: John Chilton's voyage in the South Seas and to New Spain, 1568-86
- Sloane 44: Captain Bartholomew Sharp's South Sea Waggoner - maps of South America by the celebrated map-maker, William Hack, originally presented to King Charles II
- Sloane 46A: Journal of Captain Bartholomew Sharp of a voyage via Barbados
- Sloane 46B: Journal of Captain Bartholomew Sharp of a voyage via Cape Horn to the South Seas, Golden Island and the west coast of North America, 1680; and Captain John Wood on the Straits of Magellan, 1669.
- Sloane 61: Francis Fletcher's narrative of Drake's second voyage
- Sloane 79: A draft of government framed by William Penn anno 1682 for Pensilvania and West Gersey in America (f186) and material on the silver and timber trades
- Sloane 197: Pedro Baretto de Rosende's Historical & Topographical account of Portuguese Settlements in the East Indies, 1646
- Sloane 226: Record of a Voyage unto Spaine by Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and Charles, Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral, resulting in the burning of Cadiz, 1596. By Dr Morbeck, attendant to Lord Howard
- Sloane 232: Journal of a journey to Russia by Nicolai Warkottschii, 1593
- Sloane 251: The travels of Marco Polo, written by Salvador Paruti in 1457
- Sloane 301: Record of Drake's third voyage to the West Indies, by Philip Nicholls, preacher. Formerly owned by King Charles I
- Sloane 358: Journal of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, recording a voyage to the West Indies, 1572
- Sloane 375: The Destruction of the Indias, by Bartolome de Lascasas, 1552
- Sloane 811: Records of the travels of Richard Bell, gun founder to the Great Moghuls, travelling in India and the Middle East, 1654-1688
- Sloane 819: Voyages of the HMS Sweepstakes through the Straits of Magellan to the South Seas and Baldavia, 1669-71, by Nathaniel Peckett.
- Sloane 854: Journal of Jacob Bevan, 1684-85, of a voyage via the Cape of Good Hope to Bombay, then sinking, returning to England in a new ship
- Sloane 858: Journal of John Jourdain, recording an East Indies voyage, 1607-17, and travels in Arabia, the territories of the Great Moghul
- Sloane 1378: Miscellany including accounts of North East passage, travels to Japan and China, and notes on the laws of Virginia, 1657
- Sloane 1447: The relacione of David Ingram of Barkinge in the county of Essex, saylor, . of sundrye thinges which he with others did see in travelinge. Records journey to Mexico and Nova Scotia, 1582
- Sloane 1886: Travels of Edward Browne in France and Italy
- Sloane 2177: Miscellany including 'the briefe of our voyage with Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins into the West Indies, 1595' (f186)
- Sloane 2178: Charter granted by Charles II to the East India Company, 3 April 1661.
- Sloane 2291: Journal of a voyage to Maryland and homeward with an account of the natural produce of the country and the habits of the Indians, 1705.
- Sloane 2724: Miscellany on African trade, 1680, and pirates in the West Indies
- Sloane 2902: A collection of papers respecting trade, imports and exports, by Abraham Hill, including notes on African trade, 1696, an account of Florida, 1698 (f108), Pennsylvania (f165) and the East India Company,1692 (f147)
- Sloane 2943: Voyage of the Greyhound to India, 1661-1668
- Sloane 2992: An account of Ethiopia, 1700. Also, an account of one Indian and six English men taken into slavery for 16 years
- Sloane 3052: Historia de las Indias (occidentale) par Don F Bartolome de Las Casas, obispo de Chiapa, 1492-1500
- Sloane 3105: 'A treue relation concerninge Newe England as it was presented to his Majestie'
- Sloane 3228: Record of a pilgrimage from Scotland, through France, to Jerusalem,1655-1656
- Sloane 3232: Papers of William Penn, including a discourse on the English Navy,1638
- Sloane 3324: Miscellany including James Petivar's account of animals and plants in Maryland and Dr Mather on savages of New England, 1721/2
- Sloane 3364: A description of a voyage, 1596, taken to Cathay and China
- Sloane 3369: Account of the Cape of Good Hope by John Maxwell, 1706
- Sloane 3448: A relation concerning the estate of New England, c1640
- Sloane 3456: Jesuit letters from Japan, 1591-1592
- Sloane 3527: Pierre Radisson surveying Canadian North for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1684
- Sloane 3612: Accounts of Proceedings of the Scotch Merchants Co, May-Nov 1696, regarding trade with Africa and the Indies
- Sloane 3650: Instructions by George, Lord Dartmouth, regarding sailing and fighting. Illustrated naval papers. Seventeenth century
- Sloane 3662: Miscellany. Records of colonisation of Newfoundland. Records of war against the governors of Macasser and the Dutch East India Company, 1666-1669. History of Barbados and Grenada. Lieutenant General Ryan's Journal of Guiana, 1665-1667
- Sloane 3668: Captain John Kempthorne's journals of voyages to the East Indies,1666/7, 1668/9, 1681 etc
- Sloane 3820: Records of an overland expedition by Basil Ringrose from Porto Bello to Panama and voyages in the South Seas, 1681
- Sloane 3926: Journal of a voyage from Stokes Bay to the West Indies, by Commander General Penn, 1654-1655
- Sloane 3986: A miscellany including John Smith on Guinea, 1697 (f10-20), an account of Greenland (f78ff) and papers on William Dampier
- Sloane 4002: Papers of Revd John Banister of Virginia on local plants and animals

This is just a sampling of the 191 manuscripts covered in their entirety by Parts 2 and 3 of this series. These manuscripts document voyages and travels to Africa, the Americas, China, India, Japan, the East Indies, the West Indies, Russia and the South Seas and attempts to circumnavigate the world and find the quickest trade routes to India and China. For North America there is good material concerning Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.

There are works on navigation and geography, original rutters and waggoners (such as Charles II’s presentation copy of Hack’s South Sea Waggoner) describing approved sea routes, accounts of victualling and provisions, notes on the state of the English fleet, records of naval escapades (including an account of the burning of Cadiz), and descriptions of piracy.

There are original records of the Royal African Company, the Merchant Adventurers, the Scotch Merchants Company, the Hudson's Bay Company, and the East India Company. There are detailed accounts of the flora, fauna and natural produce of various territories including Virginia, Guiana, the West Indies, Ethiopia, the Cape of Good Hope, the East Indies, China and Japan.

There is an account of the travels of Marco Polo, two accounts of Columbus’s early voyages and many contemporary and holograph records of Richard Bell, Adriano de las Cartes, John Chilton, Thomas Clement, William Cowley, John Cox, the Earl of Cumberland, William Dampier, Louis Desmay, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, Francis Drake, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, Martin Frobisher, William Hack, John Hawkins, Lord Howard, David Ingram, William Jackson, John Jourdain, Bartolome de Las Casas, Henry Maynwaringe, William Munson, Nathaniel Peckett, William Penn, Pierre Radisson, Walter Raleigh, Pedro Baretto de Rosende, Captain Bartholomew Sharp, Richard Simson, Luis Paez de Torres, and Nicolai Warkottschii.

Englebert Kaempfer’s original, seventeenth century journals concerning his travels in Persia, Japan and the Far East are the focus of a separate project - East Meets West, Part 2.