Log Book of The Proceedings on Board His Majesty's Ship Blonde From the 1st of January 1825 to the 31st, January, 1825, plus January, 1826
London: Printed for, and Published by J. W. Norie & Co., 1823, folio, partially printed and manuscript log book, [2], 26 pp., sewn into nineteenth century plain paper wraps, ruled in ink. Text in very good legible condition. Signature of Andrew Bloxam 1825 on upper right hand corner of printed title-page.
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Contains portions of the ship's log kept by Andrew Bloxam, naturalist aboard H.M.S. Blonde George Anson Byron, commander, his eldest brother was the chaplain. The vessel conveyed the bodies of the King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands who had died in England, to their native land, the voyage lasting eighteen months. A large collection of natural history specimens were made, and these were deposited in the British Museum upon his return in 1826. The pages cover the month of January 1825 and 8 pages of manuscript entries at end cover the month of January, 1826. The sheets were excised from the log-book and mounted on stubs before being stitched into plain wrappers at some point in the 19th century. The volume was presumably retained by Bloxam as there are offset stains from where plant specimens had been placed for pressing.
The Blonde sailed from England in 1824 after the deaths of Kamehameha II and his queen, Kamamalu of Hawaii from measles while on a visit to London. The Blonde sighted the coast of the island of Hawaii on May 3, 1825 and remained in Hawaiian waters until July 18, 1825. Bloxam kept a journal portions of which was subsequently published, in 1826, in the Voyage of H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands, in the Years 1824-1825, and in its entirety in 1925 by the Bishop Museum of Honolulu.
Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 2, p. 726
