H.M.S. COMUS and H.M.S. TOURMALINE. [HELBY, Harold Wildey Hasler.]
Log Book. Hong Kong, Singapore, Palau, Yokohama, Vancouver Island, San Francisco, Callao, Valparaiso, Tierra del Fuego, Falkland Islands, Montevideo, San Vicente, Plymouth, Sheerness …
A characterful log book charting the voyage of Royal Navy steamer H.M.S. Comus, beginning with its berth in Hong Kong and following its course around the Pacific, before its passage home across the Atlantic. It records the technicalities of cruising by steam; the significant international naval presence in China and the Pacific; and the sailors’ daily pattern of drills, target practice and divine service, punctuated by astronomical marvels (the aurora borealis, comets and eclipses), passing whales, illnesses and desertions. The logger is midshipman Harold Helby, who signs a number of his drawings. At first Helby is aboard H.M.S. Tourmaline which is docked at the Cosmopolitan Dock in Kowloon, Hong Kong, having sailed there from Australia and Japan according to Helby’s map. In February Tourmaline follows to Singapore, on the way dropping targets in the water and firing torpedoes. Upon arrival there Helby joins the steamer Comus, announcing his new station with a splendid frontispiece.
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