Very rare. Presented by Owen on the front free endpaper: Captain Henry Mangles Denham, Ret. a token of friendship and esteem from Admiral Owen. June, 1862.“
Owen was in command of the Blossom on a surveying voyage of the West Indies. The hydrographer Captain Beauford, asked in addition that he examine the “chain of islands exterior to Cuba, comprehending the cays, banks, and soundings from the Bajo de Navidad to Crooked Island, with the various passages between them; the opposite coast of Hayti, the Great Bahama Bank, and the Old Bahama Channel; second, the Bay of Honduras and Musquito shores, comprehending the whole of the coast from Cape Catoche at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, to Porto Bello, with all the outlying islands, cays, banks &c.”
He was instructed to note meridian distances, and examine “several detached rocks and dangers that were generally believed to exist” as well to assess “currents, tides, winds and variations of the compass.” Notably, the ship was “furnished with eight excellent chronometers, our standard being the watch that gained the first prize in 1829 (No. 114, by Dent), the best that had ever been under trial at the Royal Observatory.” This discursive account is of immense importance as it contains much of interest, historical notes, other works cited, as well as conditions and observations made on the voyage.
Departing 16 September 1829, they stopped first at Madeira before sailing to Nassau, and Port Royal. Owen notes “The first field of our operations in the survey was from Bajo de Navidad to Crooked Island, with the opposite coast of Hayti.” To avoid causing any umbrage with the Haitians, “I thought it advisable to go in the first instance to Port au Prince, and obtain permission from the Haytian government to survey their coasts.” En route, the expedition surveyed the Island of Navasa and anchored at Port au Prince on December 29. The Bahamas were next, and the following 48 pages of the text records those results. The survey proceeded from Jamaica to Cuba and then the Yucatan Peninsular, commencing at Cancun Island and sailing south along the coast to Belize. It then sailed from Cape Honduras to Cape Gracias at the border with Nicaragua, and further south again to Bluefields Lagoon. The voyage was completed with stops at the Islands of San Andres and Providencia before reaching the Serrana Bank. A second departure from England was made in the Thunder in 1833, sailing first for Demerara and then British Guiana.
The essay on chronometers at the rear had been previously printed by the Admiralty in 1827.
Just two copies at auction are recorded. OCLC locates four copies at the National Library of Ireland, NYPL, the Mariners Museum and Naval Department Library in Washington DC. Sabin states, “In the West Indies and coasts of the Western Pacific. Not printed for sale.” (The statement of the Western Pacific is an error. Possibly, he’d not seen a copy.) Sabin, 58013.
