Very Rare. OCLC/COPAC records BL and Aberdeen only. No copies recorded in the US.
A highly unusual privately printed poem - presumably intended to raise much needed funds for the troubled author - which celebrates the Treaty of Amiens but also depicts the traumatic life of a British sailor ruined in the West Indies.
The identity of the author of this rare work remains unidentified despite the numerous clues in the text. The work opens with a short preface in which the “private Misfortunes” of the author are alluded to and the possibility of a public scandal. The first poem “The Return of Peace” initially praises the recent Treaty of Amiens (agreed between France and England in March 1802) but quickly turns to a bitter depiction of the author’s shattered life caused by leaving home and spending time away at sea:
“Alas! I feel, I paint no Idle dream!
To this I owe - who would not wail the fall!
My loss of Fortune, Partner, Child - my all!“ (p.9)
The poem is followed by a prose explanation in which the author reveals he was shipwrecked on his homeward passage from Jamaica and forced to recuperate at New Providence in the Bahamas for three months before being able to catch another ship back to England. Despite his praise for New Providence the author appears to blame this incident on all of his subsequent bad luck. The poem was first published in the Bahama Gazette in January 1800 (the Bahama Gazette is available digitally online and the poem does indeed appear along with an account of the shipwreck that brought the author to the island - frustratingly the author is not named). The poem is full of praise for the island:
“Nor, whilst Thy Goodness I implore,
Let me forget Thy favourite Shore;
This sweet, this dear, this darling Isle,
Which bears Thy Name, and wears thy smile!“
As stated above the poem and account of the shipwreck do appear in the Bahama Gazette which lends a strong veracity to the story. Added to this, a rather desperate advert was placed in a London newspaper around the time of the publication of this book with the same address as the author’s in the imprint of this publication. The advert provides powerful evidence for the desperation and financial difficulties of the author:
“Wanted immediately, 300l. for a certain time, for which Security will be given. - Further particulars will be known by addressing a line, post paid, to A. Z. No. 18 Daggett’s Court, Broker-row, Moorfields, which will be immediately forwarded to the Advertiser…” (Morning Chronicle Saturday 13th March 1802)
This very rare book is a powerful depiction of the havoc caused to the lives of British sailors at sea when they returned home. The author’s ode to the West Indies is in stark contrast to his troubled life and desperation in London.
Provenance: J. O. Edwards, small modern book label on the front pastedown.
