Captain William Edmeades wrote his biographical memoir at the age of 70, having retired from the Honourable East India Company at the age of 40. Edmeades had gone to sea aged fourteen in 1780 as midshipman on the ship Hillsborough, and had risen through the ranks to captain, retiring in 1806. His memoirs describe his life at sea, his career and voyages, during a time when Britain was almost coninuously at war. He saw action at the taking of the Cape of Good Hope in 1806, leading a brigade of company officers and sailors. After his company service he settled at Nurstead Court, Kent, purchased by his father in 1767, and undertook various tasks such as remodeling the house as a fine Regency villa and improving the local church. The memoirs are supplemented by letters written by his brother, at sea at the same time as William. The editors of this text have added footnotes, a summary of Edmeades' voyages, and an index.