Journal of Edward Barlow, 1656-1703.

Edward Barlow's journal, his life at sea in East and West Indiamen, (index with journal), see appendix.

This journal comprises four orderable units or separate component parts as follows:

JOD/4/1-98;
JOD/4/99-196;
JOD/4/197-210, 213-294;
JOD/4/211-212;

Related materials: see library publication on open access in the Caird Library: "Barlow's journal: of his life at sea in King's ships, East and West Indiamen and other merchantmen from 1659 to 1703" by Basil Lubbock (Call Number: 92BARLOW) - as transcribed from the original manuscript and comprising two volumes, including volume one introduction outlining the history and provenance of the journal. Note that this transcription is not complete and that some items may be adbridged or missing.

Existence and Location of copies:
All Barlow journal entries within the custody of the National Maritime Museum have been digitised and are available via our Collections Online catalogue: https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/archive/rmgc-object-505786

Administrative / biographical background
Comment on provenance from introduction to volume 1 by Basil Lubbock: "I can throw very little light on the history of the journal. I bought it from the present Earl of Hardwicke. It came out of the Library of Sydney Lodge, Hamble Hants, the residence during the first quarter of the nineteenth century of Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, Vice-Admiral of the White. The Admiral’s son succeeded to the Earldom of Hardwicke, but the Yorke family of the present day have no records of how the manuscript came into their possession. It is significant, however, that there were until quite recently, and may still be, people of the name of Barlow living in the neighbourhood and the most likely supposition seems to be that one of these Hampshire Barlows sold the manuscript to the Admiral." Archival history note: CONTENT WARNING: text within some of the following specified Barlow page references and accompanying article may cause distress. It was during conservation of this item in preparation for its digitisation that a previously unseen confession of rape from Edward Barlow was uncovered i.e., the text (summarised at references JOD/4/209-210; JOD/4/210.1; JOD/4/213.1; JOD/4/213-214) was found under another page of text which had been deliberately pasted over it. More on this discovery here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/18/secret-unearthed-sailor-17th-century-journal-edward-barlow-national-maritime-museum

Record Details

Item reference: JOD/4; JOD/4 JOD/4 JOD/4/1-294 JOD/4/1-210, 213-294 MS1939-9600
Catalogue Section: Manuscript volumes acquired singly by the Museum
Level: SUB-COLLECTION
Extent: 3 boxes; 1 folder
Date made: 1659-01-01 - 1703-12-31; 1659-1703 1695-01-01 - 1703-12-31
Creator: Barlow, Edward
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London