Page 48 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

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SHIPS’ LOGS – CHINA. Manuscript log by midshipman William Hutcheon Hall of the brig-sloop Lyra, opening at Deptford and closing
in Portsmouth Harbour, 7 November 1815-13 November 1817.
c.328 written pages, 315 x 200mm. Half morocco, marbled boards.
A log-book of HMS Lyra, accompanying the abortive British embassy to China under Lord Amherst and exploring the coast of
Korea. Daily entries for the sloop record the date, location, course of the ship, latitude and longitude, and activities aboard: she leaves
England in February 1816 for Madeira, and travels around the Cape of Good Hope and past Java, joining Amherst (on HMS Alceste)
initially on 10 July of the Ladron Islands [the Wanshan Archipelago], entering Hong Kong harbour the following day. The Lyra briefy
went ahead of the Alceste and the accompanying vessels, before the squadron reformed on 29 July in the Bohai Sea (the closest
coastline to Beijing): on the 31st, the log observes 'a Chinese boat with 2 Manderenes to go on board the Alceste. Came on board Lord
Amhurst [sic]'. On 4 August there is further action: 'AM ... Obs[erve]d a number of large Junks to along side Alceste / PM ... Received
a proportion of Beef Pigs Sheep Coals Candles Rice Flower Shugar [sic] Shugar Candy Fruit and Vegetables sent as a present from
the Emperor'. On 9 August, Amherst's disembarkation is recorded, accompanied by fags, cheers and a 21-gun salute. On the return
journey, the Lyra and her companion, the frigate Alceste, visit the west coast of Korea, before picking up Amherst in Canton (his arrival
noted briefy, 'His Excellency Lord Amhurst returned on board Alceste'), and proceeding homeward via Calcutta, Madras, France, the
Cape of Good Hope, and then St Helena – site of Lord Amherst’s famous meetings with Napoleon – before arriving back to England in
November 1817.
The mission of William, 1st Earl Amherst, to China was as much of a failure as that of Lord Macartney in 1792-4: his refusal to
perform the kowtow, which he considered to be demeaning, meant that he was sent away from Beijing without even having received
an audience with the Jiaqing emperor. The commander of HMS Lyra, Basil Hall (1788-1844) published a description of the voyage,
Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island in the Japan Sea (1818), one of the earliest
descriptions of Korea by a European. For Midshipman, later Admiral, William Hutcheon Hall, see the following lot.
£1,500-2,500 US$1,900-3,100
€1,700-2,800

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