Sea-Life Sixty Years Ago: A Record of Adventures Which Led Up To the Discovery of the Reclics of the Long Missing Expedition by Bayly, George (1808-1888) inscribed - 1885

viii+224+[44 ad] pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's green cloth with gilt lettering to spine and cover with gilt pictorial to cover. Inscribed by the author. First edition.

George Bayly followed in the family tradition of seafaring and sailed to the far corners of the British Empire. He kept meticulous diaries, including pen-and-ink wash drawings of his travels. A naval captain and sketcher, was born in Rotherhithe, London, third of the 10 children of George Bayly, a sailmaker and ships' chandler, and Ann, nee Boyd. He was baptized in St Mary's, Rotherhithe on 1 April 1808. After being educated at Ramsgate, Kent, he signed on as an apprentice officer on the Almorah in 1824, a ship owned by his uncle Captain Matthew Boyd and captained by another relative, George H. Boyd, that was transporting over 100 female convicts from Cork to Sydney. 'Over the next 24 years he sailed to most of the major ports between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, with Calcutta as his main port of call… [He rose] through the ranks from apprentice officer to ship's captain and, finally, commander and sole owner of his own vessel'. On 2 April 1845 Bayly married Mary Saunders; they had two daughters. Bayly kept detailed journals of his travels. The early ones are illustrated with pen and wash sketches of events and of the ships on which he sailed.

Condition:

Inscribed on the title page. First page of the publisher's catalog of books removed. Some light wear to binding edges, hinges a little weak, corners bumped else a good to very good copy.