Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar
Performed in HM Ships Leven and Barracouta

First published in 1833, this two-volume account documents naval officer William Fitzwilliam Owen's expedition to Africa, Arabia and Madagascar.

William Fitzwilliam Owen (Author), Heaton Bowstead Robinson (Edited by)

9781108050630, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 June 2012

472 pages, 5 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.7 cm, 0.59 kg

William Fitzwilliam Owen (1774–1857) was a British naval officer. Between 1821 and 1826 he commanded an expedition to Africa, Arabia and Madagascar with the Royal Navy ships Leven and Barracouta, during which he mapped some 30,000 miles of coastline. His memoirs of the voyage are presented in this two-volume account, first published in 1833. Volume 1 begins by presenting Owen's instructions from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and the Hydrographical Office, on which the editor comments that Owen was not given the power to take account of seasonal climate changes. Through Owen's recollections we learn that this proved fatal, as many of his crew succumbed to tropical diseases. Providing a vivid account of African exploration in the nineteenth century, Owen also documents his encounters with native peoples and wildlife. His writings remain of great interest to geographers, historians and anthropologists.

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Introduction
1. Trial of rockets
2. Arrival in Porto Grande
3. A man overboard
4. Jem of the water
5. English bill
6. Quarter-deck market
7. Fever on board
8. Superstitious fear
9. The seasons at St Mary's
10. Mozambique
11. Lieutenant Owen's narrative continued
12. The gun-room steward
13. Ball on board
14. Ascend the Dundas
15. Meet the Barracouta
16. Anchor recovered
17. Islands of Boene and Chuluwan
18. Town of Muskat
19. Cape Guardafui
20. Lieut. Boteler's journal
21. The leopard's bank
22. Arrival at Pemba.

Subject Areas: African history [HBJH]