The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Journals detailing seaman’s life in 19th Century up for auction
Journals detailing the lives of Victorian sailors could fetch thousands of pounds at auction after being discovered at a flea market.
The three journals handwritten by Royal Navy Seaman Frederick Allen provide a day-to-day account of the Mediterranean voyage of HMS Australia from 1889 to 1893.
Seaman Allen details capsizings, drownings, military engagements, several stabbings and seasickness.
He also writes about the alleged murder of one of his fellow crew members, William Drudge, who was found dead at the foot of a cliff in Greece in May 1891.
The journals were discovered in Seaman Allen’s ditty box – a container for sailor’s personal items – by a private collector at a flea market in Shepton Mallet in Somerset.
The collector only realised the significance of what was inside after carrying out his own extensive research.
Seaman Allen’s box – also containing photographs, uniforms, Navy handbooks and handwritten records – will be auctioned by Gardiner Houlgate in Corsham, Wiltshire, on September 26.
“We’ve sold items of maritime and naval significance before but nothing as comprehensive and richly-detailed as these journals,” said David Hare, director and auctioneer at Gardiner Houlgate.
“It’s a rare piece of British naval history. On that basis, we’re expecting it to sell for several thousand pounds.
“Beyond the story these journals tell of British maritime power at the height of the Empire, they also paint a vivid picture of the daily lives of sailors aboard ship – the dangers they faced, the camaraderie, the heroism.
“It’s real Boy’s Own stuff but with a dark undercurrent of violence and death.”