File NLW MS 24132E. - Memoir of William Owen, RN

Manuscript memoir, 1774-1775, of William Owen, recalling his early years in the Royal Navy, from 1750 to 1761, in particular his time in India from 1754. The volume recounts life and events on board ship, together with incidents, escapades and misadventures ashore.
Owen went to sea as a midshipman and passed his Lieutenant's exam on 1 February 1758 (pp. 328-329). He served aboard several ships, most notably HMS Tyger, 1754-1759 (pp. 137-403), and HMS Sunderland, 1759-1761 (pp. 411-547). He participated in several naval and land actions in the Carnatic, Bengal and elsewhere, including the capture of Geriah (Vijaydurg), February 1756 (pp. 194-204), the expedition to retake Calcutta, December 1756-February 1757 (pp. 242-68), the battle of Chandernagore, 23 March 1757 (pp. 282-9), the naval battles off Cuddalore, 30 April 1758 (pp. 343-7), Negapatam, 3 August 1758 (pp. 368-73) and Pondicherry, 11 September 1759 (pp. 444-9), and the subsequent siege and blockade of Pondicherry, August 1760-January 1761 (pp. 530-53). Other incidents of note include a fraught voyage from Jamaica to England, October 1753-January 1754 (pp. 120-32), an ill-fated shooting expedition in Trincomalee, Ceylon, July 1759 (pp. 427-36), the loss of his right arm during a raid at Pondicherry, 6 October 1760 (pp. 531-6), and the sinking of HMS Sunderland in a cyclone shortly before Owen was due to rejoin her, 1 January 1761 (pp. 544-7). The volume, which contains occasional corrections, deletions and interpolations, is based mainly on Owen's journals, log books and other papers (see NLW, Glansevern Estate Records). In addition, certain passages, especially accounts of wider events, are either copied verbatim or adapted, without acknowledgement, from published works including Edward Ives, A Voyage from England to India… (London: Edward and Charles Dilly, 1773, ESTC T12210) (pp. 154-5, 163, 171, 178-9, 195, 197-8, 200-204, 210-13, 218, 223-5, 234, 242-3, 251-2, 259-60, 262-3, 264-6, 269-76, 280-81, 284-5, 294-305, 313, 316-7), and unidentified editions of Richard Owen Cambridge, An Account of the War in India, Between the English and French… (London: T. Jefferys, 1761, ESTC T145098) (pp. 339-41, 345, 353-60, 366, 368-70, 372, 386-9, 403-9, 454-90, 496-7, 513-20, 523, 558-62), John Entick, The General History of the Late War…, 5 vols (London: Edward Dilly and John Millan, 1763, T138198) (pp. 506-12, 520, 523-6, 540-43, 550-51, 553, 562-7), An Impartial History of the Late Glorious War (Manchester: printed by R. Whitworth, 1764, T110585) (pp. 459-50) and the third volume of An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere..., ed. by John Hawkesworth, 3 vols (London: printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell in the Strand, 1773, T74465) (pp. 578-82). Owen's second volume of memoirs is partly published in Narrative of American Voyages and Travels of Captain William Owen, R.N., and Settlement of the Island of Campobello in the Bay of Fundy 1766-1771, ed. by Victor Hugo Paltsits (New York, New York Public Library, 1942), a copy of which is included with the present manuscript (NLW MS 24132E(a)).