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A logbook maintained by the future Admiral Sir Percy Grant (1867-1952), chronicling his two years serving as a midshipman onboard HMS Constance, a 2,380-ton Comus-class steel corvette deployed on the Pacific Station. In 1919, Grant succeeded Vice-Admiral William Creswell as head of the Australian Navy. Commissioned in October 1882 and boasting six machine guns and a company of 265, Constance was captained by Frederic Proby Doughty (1834-1892) during Grant's tenure onboard. She brought extra firepower to the Pacific, being the first Royal Navy ship outfitted with a new type of compressed air torpedo launcher. Grant joined the newly commissioned Constance after serving in the Anglo-Egyptian War that summer. He made lieutenant in 1890 and captain in 1907, serving as flag captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayley during the First World War and commanding HMS Marlborough at Jutland. He made vice-admiral in 1924, was placed on the retired list in 1928, and advanced to the rank of admiral the same year. The log opens on 8 June 1884, when Constance is moored at Esquimalt, Canada, preparing to sail southwards. Over the next two years, she makes a return voyage from Canada to Chile via the Pacific Islands. The ship is ever ready for military and ceremonial duties, in particular testing its torpedo firing systems. In Honolulu, she receives His Majesty King Kal kaua and experiences the aftershocks of an earthquake off Callao in February 1885. As usual for the genre, the log meticulously chronicles the ship's progress and happenings onboard, supported by hand-drawn maps, charts, and diagrams. Grant's plan of Honolulu Harbour, after a survey by a naval lieutenant, shows the offshore quarantine ground, while a plan of the anchorage at San Lorenzo highlights the wreck of a floating barge sunk during the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War. Three drawings relate to torpedo boats. In late 1885, the ship is ordered to Hong Kong and receives Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Hamilton, Commander-in-Chief, China Station, on 6 January 1886, at which point Grant transfers to a troop ship bound for England via Singapore, Aden, and Malta. Provenance: with Grant's finely engraved armorial bookplate. Quarto (315 x 200 mm). Decorative manuscript colour title page; 26 tipped-in manuscript items, including 13 track charts (Pacific islands, Rarotonga to Coquimbo, Coquimbo to Payta, Payta to Coquimbo, Coquimbo to Callao, Callao to Acapulco, Acapulco to Magdalena Bay, San Francisco to Honolulu, Magdalena Bay to Esquimalt, Esquimalt to Acapulco, Acapulco to Panama, Acapulco to Honolulu, Hawai'i to Hong Kong), 7 maps and plans (Juan de Fuca Strait, Honolulu harbour, Caroline Islands, Penrhyn I, Avarura in north Rarotonga, anchorage off San Lorenzo, Royal Bay), 3 cross-sections of torpedo boat, sheet with specifications for Constance, tables of deviation and spars. Recently rebound in half black sheep, spine ruled in gilt, incorporating original binding's purple cloth sides with later lettering in gilt, original endpapers, edges sprinkled brown, 242 pages neatly filled in manuscript, primarily tabular entries. Sides rubbed and lightly stained, a little staining and browning internally, some colour bleed, legibility unaffected, charts, maps and plans well preserved, tipped-in item now loose: a very good example.
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