Album of coastal profiles

The profiles were made on the 'Ponsborne', an East Indiaman, which voyaged to Madras and Whampoa and back under the command of William Hammett, 26 September 1783 - 6 July 1785. Although no 'Hodgson' is listed in the crew, the purser was John B. Hodson.

Fifty-eighty pages of sepia drawings (12" x 6"), with captions and dates. The drawings give latitude and longitude, and appear to be competent renderings of coast profiles. The places featured include the Cape Verde Islands, Trinidad, Table Bay (including plan), Ceylon, Malaya and the East Indies, Macao, Sunda Straits, St Helena, Ascension and Britain. Some of the profiles, including those for Cape Town, Macao and Jamestown, St Helena, give details of buildings. None are signed, but several are inscribed 'taken by Mr Hodgson'.

Purchased 1909.

Please cite as Cambridge University Library: Royal Commonwealth Society Library, Album of coastal profiles, RCMS 6

Donald H. Simpson, ed., 'The manuscript catalogue of the library of the Royal Commonwealth Society' (London, 1975), p. 51. Indexed

This collection level description was created by RAS.