ABSTRACT
C O R R E S P O N D E N C E C O N C E R N I N G T H E V O Y A G E
T O C A L C U T T A V I A T H E C A P E O F G O O D H O P E
A N D T H E M A L A Y A R C H I P E L A G O
W O letters from the Cape of Good Hope on the way to the East have been preserved: one from Captain Tolson to Captain Bowrey, and one from Richard
Griffin, chief mate of the Mary Galley, to his parents. Tolson’s letter is an unsigned copy, written by Joseph
Dupuy, the second supercargo, and is therefore much more legible and less involved in style than the captain’s own productions, some of which {e.g. Papers 76 to 78) are very difficult to decipher. This letter commences by stating that he left Spithead in company with the Litchfield, but could not sail so well as his convoy, which soon deserted him. Then, in a discursive fashion, he narrates how he was again chased by a French ship on 2 November, her consort (bound from the West Indies for St Malo) having been captured by the Litchfield. Tolson, however, escaped by sailing away from his pursuer. That night he came upon a fleet, and, not knowing if it were friend or foe, he steered to the west, and by dint of rowing, escaped unnoticed. After this he was in a storm for four days, and on 6 November he came across a French ship “ lying a trying,” or with her bows to the wind, and “ run past him at such a Rate [that] he never gave us Chace.”
