Henry Hayne diary volume 1, 1816 February 8-April 20 and undated

Containers:

Box 1

Scope and content:

Item is a bound manuscript diary, 173 pages, containing a journal from Henry Haynes' voyage on the H.M.S. Alceste from Portsmouth, England, to Madeiras Island; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Cape Town, South Africa.The journal also contains some sections on Hayne's visit to Canton (Guangzhou), China; Macau; and Manila.

Haynes describes daily routines and activities on board, including his sea sickness and exercise regimens. He notes views from the deck, including different fish and aquatic life. At one point (page 26) a drunk sailor jumped overboard and was presumed to have drowned or be eaten by a shark, even though they tried to find him. Haynes also recounts a ceremony marking of the ship's celebration of crossing the equator, including a script of Neptune's conversation with ship captain, Maxwell.

The Alceste spent about ten days in Rio de Janeiro and Haynes records many details about the local geography, agriculture, plantations, and commerce. He includes descriptions of enslaved African people and white settlers, specifically the Portuguese colonists. He describes his visit to a slave market "out of curiosity," and says that "from the little opportunity I had of observing their treatment, I cannot for any opinion upon it; the general opinion was that for Slaves they were generally well treated, but the frequent marks of stripes on their shoulders which we constantly saw in the streets induced some of our party to come to a very different conclusion" (page 73). He writes that Rio "is pretty considerable but rather mean, and nothing striking in it besides the filty state of the streets" (page 81). The Alceste's time in Rio coincided with the death of Queen Maria, the king's mother, and Haynes describes different Portuguese services and mourning customs, including outfits.

The embassy left Rio de Janeiro on April 1, and reached Cape Town on April 18, and the volume includes the events of the first three days there.

Pages 115-134 contains descriptions of the embassy's travels in Guangzhou (recorded Canton), Macau (recorded Macao), and Manila (recorded Manilla). The author describes the embassy's reception and lodging in Canton after their journey into China (described in Volume 2). While in Canton, Hayne records their visits to English and Western factories, as well as to Chinese shops which "are filled with very beautiful specimens of workmanship in Ivory, Mother of Pearl, and Tortoise shell as well as silks, velvets, crapes, shawls, embroidery, in short innumerable pretty things of this kind to tempt the European to spend his money" (page 121). Hayne at one point describes Chinese women: those he encountered in the countryside "most commonly their feet are as nature made them, but on shore in the suburbs, many are seen hobbling on their heels with cramped feet" (page 132). Hayne also discusses factory surgeon Alexander Pearson's work innoculating Europeans and Chinese against smallpox (page 131).

Pages 170-173 contains log entries for the ship's voyage from England to the mouth of the Pei-ho River, China, including dates, distance, temperature, latitude, and longitude.

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