The loss of East Indiaman HCS `Halsewell' on the coast of Dorset in southern England in January 1786, touched the very heart of the British nation. `Halsewell' was just one of many hundreds of vessels which had been in the service of the Honourable East India Company since its foundation in the year 1600. In the normal course of events, `Halsewell' would have been expected to serve out her working life, before passing unnoticed into the history books. However, this was not to be. Halsewell's loss was an event of such pathos as to inspire the greatest writer of the age Charles Dickens, to put pen to paper; the greatest painter of the age J. M. W. Turner, to apply brush to canvas, and the King and Queen to pay homage at the very place where the catastrophe occurred. Artefacts from the wreck continue to be recovered to this very day which, and for variety, interest, curiosity, and exoticism, rival those recovered from Spanish armada galleons wrecked off the west coast of Ireland two centuries previously. Such artefacts shed further light both on `Halsewell' herself, and on the extraordinary lives of those who sailed in her.

The East Indiaman HCS `Halsewell' set sail on 1 January 1786, en route from England to India. Her dramatic demise touched the very heart of the nation. It inspired Charles Dickens to put pen to paper; J. M. W. Turner to apply brush to canvas, and the King and Queen to pay homage at the very place where the catastrophe occurred.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1727 edition. Excerpt: ... It has the Benefit of a good River, but being but eight Leagues from Atcheen, it has no Trade. CHAP. XLIV. Treats o/Java, and'the I/lands near if, with an Recount of the Garifons and Factories settled on that IJland by the Dutch, the Product and Commerce tf/Java, Bally, Lombock, Flores, Solore, Leolana, Panterra, Miscomby, Timore, Banda and Molucca;, Islands, and the Islands of Celebes their 'Product, Extent and Commerce. ND now having ended my Tour round /l Sumatra, I must return to the Southward, and travel to the Eastward of Sumatra, and to the Southward of the AEquator, among those famous Islands; and Java being )&e vvestmost, I begin there, and march EastWard among Islands far from any Continent. Princes Island is close to the West Point _of Java. It has a Chanel between it and JaW, but there is some Danger in it. There jre no Inhabitants on it; but there are three /laces that afford good Water, and Wood enough for Ships bound out of the Streights of Sunda to Europe. There are several other Islands in the Streights, as Caccotoa, Daars, in the W ay, the Button and Cape, and several others without Name. The The first Place of Commerce on the Weft End of Java, is the famous Bantam, where the English and Danes had their Factories flourishing till Anno 1682. at which Time the neighbourly Dutch fomented a War between the old King of Bantam and his Son, and because the Father would not come into their Measures, and be their humble Slave, they struck in with the Son, who was more covetous of a Crown than of Wisdom. They, with the Assistance of other Rebels, put the Son on the Throne, and took the old King Prisoner, and sent him to Batavia; and, in 1683. they pretended a Power from the new King to send the Englijh and Danes a packing, ..