Log of the proceeding on board H. M. ship "Forte".
[s.i.].
[s.n.], [1871-73]
Folio.
Manuscript on paper. [326]pp. Contemporary black morocco, tooled in gilt and blind. Heavily rubbed and marked, foot of spine and lower joint worn, corners exposed. Internally clean and crisp. With an engraved map showing the 1868-69 passage of the HMS Forte from England to Bombay, with later passage added in manuscript, and a sepia photograph of an unidentified vessel.
A midshipman's manuscript log book, in a single legible hand, recording the passage of HMS Forte from Calcutta to Plymouth, via Madras, Bombay, Aden, Ras Hafun, Zanzibar, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and St. Helena, commencing 3rd February, 1871 and ending 16th February, 1872.
The midshipman in question was Frederick Gordon McKinstry (b. 1853), who enrolled in the navy in 1886, was promoted commander in 1890, and retired as a captain.
The Forte, a fifty-one-gun screw ship launched in 1858, was at this time the flagship of Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station Rear Admiral James Horsford Cockburn (1817- 1872), and under the command of Captain Henry Fairfax (1837-1900), sometime Naval aide- de-camp to Queen Victoria. Following the voyage recorded by this manuscript, the Forte was put out of commission and hulked. In 1905, the vessel was destroyed by fire, along with her cargo of 1800 tons of coal, subsequently sunk at her moorings by boats of the Acteon torpedo school in order to prevent her posing any threat to the crowded Sheerness harbour.
The latter half of the manuscript is given over to proceedings of passages undertaken by our 'middie' on three separate vessels between 18th February, 1872 and 19th June, 1873 - HMS Duke of Wellington, HMS Samar, and HMS Royal Alfred - variously calling at Gibraltar, Malta, Madeira, Halifax, Sydney, Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, and Havana.
£ 1,250.00
Antiquates Ref: 30935
The midshipman in question was Frederick Gordon McKinstry (b. 1853), who enrolled in the navy in 1886, was promoted commander in 1890, and retired as a captain.
The Forte, a fifty-one-gun screw ship launched in 1858, was at this time the flagship of Commander-in-Chief, East Indies Station Rear Admiral James Horsford Cockburn (1817- 1872), and under the command of Captain Henry Fairfax (1837-1900), sometime Naval aide- de-camp to Queen Victoria. Following the voyage recorded by this manuscript, the Forte was put out of commission and hulked. In 1905, the vessel was destroyed by fire, along with her cargo of 1800 tons of coal, subsequently sunk at her moorings by boats of the Acteon torpedo school in order to prevent her posing any threat to the crowded Sheerness harbour.
The latter half of the manuscript is given over to proceedings of passages undertaken by our 'middie' on three separate vessels between 18th February, 1872 and 19th June, 1873 - HMS Duke of Wellington, HMS Samar, and HMS Royal Alfred - variously calling at Gibraltar, Malta, Madeira, Halifax, Sydney, Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, and Havana.
