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Portlock's Assistant Logbook

Lieutenant Nathaniel Portlock's Logbook of the Assistant

Nathaniel Portlock was an American. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia, about 1749, into a family which had a shipping business. He and his half brother went to sea on one of the family's brigs. In 1771, when employed as sailing master on a ship in the West Indies trade, Portlock was threatened with being pressed on to HMS St. Albans. Portlock volunteered and within two months was rated as a midshipman. After two years on the St. Albans he transferred to spend time in the Ardent (19 months) and in the Ramillies (11 months). By choosing to stay with the Royal Navy, Portlock alienated his family in America and eventually lost land and property bequested to him. Like Bligh, Portlock had sailed on Captain Cook's third voyage.

There are two versions of Nathaniel Portlock's logbook of the Assistant and neither is complete. This one ends on March 5, 1793, and the other on January 23, 1793, which is one of the reasons I chose this one. But the main reason was that the other version, although it has hourly remarks, is nearly indecipherable, both because of the small handwriting and because the pages were reproduced at less than life size, so that it impossible to enlarge them to any degree without pixelization.

Transcribed from images of the original, held at the National Archives, Kew, England.

1791

• April  Introduction
• May  19-26,  27-Jun 3
• June  May 27-3,  4-14,  15-22,  23-30
• July  1-7,  8-13,  14-20,  21-27,  28-Aug 4
• August  Jul 28-4,  5-9,  10-14,  15-19,  20-25,  26-29,  30-Sep 5
• September  Aug 30-5,  6-11,  12-16,  17-22,  23-29,  30-Oct 7
• October  Sep 30-7,  8-15,  16-23,  24-29,  30-Nov 3
• November  Oct 30-3,  4-7,  8-12,  13-17,  18-23,  24-29,  30-Dec 5
• December  Nov 30-5,  6-12,  13-19,  20-23,  24-31

1792

• January  1-6,  7-9,  10-12,  13-16,  17-20,  21-25,  26-29,  30-Feb 2
• February  Jan 30-2,  3-5,  6-8,  9-11,  12-16,  17-21,  22-23,  24-27,  28-Mar 3
• March  Feb 28-3,  4-6,  7-9,  10-12,  13-16,  17-20,  21-24,  25-28,  29-31
• April  1-3,  4-6,  7-9,  10-14,  15-19,  20-25,  26-May 2
• May  Apr 26-2,  3-8,  9-15,  16-21,  22-26,  27-31
• June  1-7,  8-12,  13-16,  17-22,  23-28,  29-Jul 4
• July  Jun 29-4,  5-9,  10-13,  14-17,  18-21,  22-26,  27-31
• August  1-3,  4-6,  7-9,  10-14,  15-18,  19-22,  23-27,  28-31,
• September  1-3,  4-6,  7-10,  11-13,  14-17,  18-22,  23-27,  28-Oct 2
• October  Sep 28-2,  3-9,  10-14,  15-20,  21-26,  27-Nov 2
• November  Oct 27-2,  3-9,  10-15,  16-21,  22-27,  28-Dec 1
• December  Nov 28-1,  2-5,  6-10,  11-16,  17-21,  22-28,  29-Jan 4, 1793

1793

• January  Dec 29, 1792-4,  5-11,  12-18,  19-23,  24-30,  31-Feb 4
• February  Jan 31-4,  5-10,  11-15,  16-22,  23-28,
• March  1-5

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