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ALBERT 'BERTIE' SUMNER LAFONE, Royal Navy, Midshipman : 1879 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT RELIC OF ONE YOUNG MIDSHIPMAN'S FORTUNATE FIRST CRUISE ON A SCIENTIFIC MISSION TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AS HE CLIMBS THE RATLINES TO THE ADMIRALTY

8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. On offer is a super, original manuscript relic of naval life and adventure for a young British midshipman and future Admiral named Albert Sumner Lafone during his service and first voyage on H.M.S. Triumph, Flag Ship of the Pacific Squadron, in the years 1879 - 1880. Titled 'Extracts from letters written by to his mother while on his first voyage' the elegant 9 x 7 inch black limp leather covers gilt panelling and marbled endpapers. The 104 pages are fair copies in a secretarial hand or perhaps a scrivener of the intimate descriptive letters to his mother of the future Admiral Lafone while under the command of the Arctic explorer Captain Albert Markham, likely written soon afterwards by a friend or family member from the originals which are unaccounted for. Albert proves to be a gifted writer making for keen eyed observation and intelligence. He provides significant accounts of the 'stirring events' of the Battle of Iquique between the navies of Bolivia, Peru and Chile, sent from HMS Turquoise, illustrated with a 'rough' chart, ending in the ruse by which the Independencia's Captain, 'endeavoured to ram the Covadonga. The threatened blow was skilfully avoided by a sudden rush ahead, and the great ironclad ran right up on to the reef, the surf breaking over her... the Captain set her on fire and the crew escaped in boats'. There follows a vivid account of the sinking of the Esmerelda, 'each crew firing their guns as the water touched it. They went down shouting "Viva el Chile"'. There are visits to Acapulco and an Admiralty commissioned scientific survey and research voyage to the Galapagos Islands [which was written up in the Royal Geographic Society Monthly Record in 1880] with its 'lava rocks' and San Francisco, the Lafone finds himself moored at Esquimault in British Columbia where the ship is refitted and he devotes himself to observation of local culture: 'About 2 miles from the ship there is an indian village; the people are half civilised'. This doesn't prevent games of football with locals, vividly described rowing races, visits by trainee Japanese officers and a fund raising drive for a ball and provision of a social club despite criticism of 'the society about here' as 'regular republicans'. Overall VG.. Book Condition: Very Good

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