Mrs Mary Halley

On the 6 April 1699 a baptism is taking place at the church of All Hallows on the Wall on the northern perimeter of the City of London. The child – a boy – is named Edmond after his father, but his father – Captain Edmond Halley – is unaware of his son’s existence…

Boundary mark for St James’s Dukes Place, where Edmond and Mary were married in 1682 (© Kate Morant)

Edmond Halley married Mary Tooke on 20 April 1682 at St James’s Dukes Place, a short walk from his father’s house in Winchester Street. The marriage took place less than 3 months after Halley returned from his Grand Tour and it isn’t known whether he and Mary were acquainted before he left, or if the marriage was arranged while he was abroad, or after his return, or whether Edmond or Mary had any involvement in the decision.

What is known, is that the marriage was a great success. They were married for almost 54 years until Mary’s death in 1736, which Edmond described as “the saddest day of my life” and that he had lived “in great contentment” with Mary. [1]

At the time of Edmond’s departure, they had two daughters, Margaret, born 1685, and Catharine, born 1688. The Biographica Britannica says they had several children who did not survive, but I have only found a record for one, Katherine, born while they were living in Islington, where they’d set up home after their marriage. [2]

There are very few glimpses of Halley’s personal life but those few give the impression of a close and happy family. Flamsteed describes a visit in 1712 by the entire Halley family at a time when relations between Halley and Flamsteed were at their nadir, and one senses the cheery Halleys working together to make the visit less of an ordeal for Edmond (and Flamsteed).

Halley’s gravestone, now set into a wall at the Greenwich Observatory, was erected by his daughters (his son had already died) and dedicated to Edmond and Mary as the “best of parents” (optimis parentibus) and all four are buried together, along with Catharine’s second husband, Henry Price.

Yet despite their long and happy marriage, Mary hardly makes an appearance in the written records. The Biographica Britannica describes her as “a young lady equally amiable for the gracefulness of her person and the beauties of her mind” but we know nothing else about her character or personality. [3]

In spite of this, it’s Mary I most often think of when reading Halley’s logbook. I tend to think of her as being the type of person who was very supportive of Edmond’s various projects – that’s speculation but even if it’s correct, she must have been gravely apprehensive about his voyage.

St Benet Paul’s Wharf, where Halley’s daughter Margaret was baptised in 1685 (© Kate Morant)

Besides her concern for Edmond’s safety, she must have worried about what would happen to her and her two daughters if he didn’t return – and then shortly before Halley finally set sail, she found she was pregnant again – a hazardous event in itself.

We don’t know of any letters Edmond wrote to Mary from his ship, but he must surely have written at every opportunity to let her know he was safe and well. He was unable to write to the Admiralty between December and early April, and so presumably Mary had no word either and at the time of giving birth to their son, would not have known whether her husband was still alive. It must have been some sort of comfort to be able to name the child after Edmond.

And what of Halley’s own concerns for his family? We know he wrote a will shortly after the voyage was proposed and so was not blind to the fact he might not survive it, but I wonder how much consideration he gave to what would happen to his wife and young daughters if he didn’t return? I don’t doubt Halley would have been concerned for his family but I do wonder if his optimistic personality may have led him to underestimate the dangers of a long sea voyage.

Perhaps it’s more pleasing to reflect on the scene when Halley does return to his family: the relief of his wife, the joy of his daughters, his own delight at finding he has a son. For Mary, however, the relief will be short-lived as Halley will set off on his next voyage just two months after his return – and Mary Halley will have to spend another year wondering if she will ever see her husband again.

[1] The remarks by Halley about his wife are quoted in several books but I can’t locate the original source

[2] The spelling of Catharine’s name varies, ‘Catharine’ is used on the gravestone so I have opted for that. Biographica Britannica, Vol IV (1757) p 2517 note RR for the remark about his having several children. Catharine and Katherine were two different daughters as the latter was born before Margaret but Catharine is described as Halley’s younger daughter on the gravestone

[3] Biographica Britannica, Vol IV (1757) p 2500

Edmond Halley, pirate?

On 2 April 1699, Paramore anchors in Carlisle Bay, Barbados and on the 4th Halley writes to Josiah Burchett, Secretary to the Admiralty, for the first time since leaving Madeira in December.

He gives an account of his voyage between Madeira and Barbados but doesn’t mention the incident that occurred two days earlier when Lieutenant Harrison disobeyed his orders, though he does mention something not recorded in his logbook – that he was fired on as a suspected pirate!

(Halley to Burchett, dated 4 April 1699 from “Barbadoes road”, National Archives ADM 1/1871)

Honoured Sr

I have had no opportunity to give their Lopps any account of my proceedings since my last of Decemb 20 from Madera. That same day I sayled for the Cape de Virde Ilands and arriving at St Iago on Jan. 2, I found there two English Marchāt shipps, one of which calld the New Exchange, wherof one John Way is Master belonging to London, was pleased, insteed of saluting us, to fire at us severall both great and small shott. We were surprized at it, and beliving them to be pirates, I went in to windward of them and bracing our head Sailes to the Mast, sent my boat to learn the reason of their firing. They answered that they apprehended we were a pirate, and that they had on board them two Masters of vessells, that had been lately taken by pirates, one of which swore that ours was the very shipp that took him; wherupon they thought themselves obliged to do what they did in their own defence. Then they sent on board me the two persons they said were the Masters of the taken Vessells, and soon after the two Masters came themselves, they said they were sorry that they had fired at the Kings Colours, but that Colours were not to be trusted. I told them I must acquaint their Lopps with what had past, and if their Lopps would put it up, as it hapned they had done me no damage. The next morning they both sailed, and upon our arrivall here we found the said Master John Way and his shipp in this road. From St Iago we proceeded to the southward and being gotten within 100 leagues of the line, we fell into such calmes and small southerly gales, that our shipp being very indifferent to windward, we were full seven weeks before we gott 100 leagues to the Southward of the line, in which time our water being near spent, obliged us to recruite it on the coast of Brasile. By this time twas March and we found the Northerly Currents made against us, and we upon the Lee shore; so that it would have been scarce possible for a more winderly shipp than we, to turn it to the Southward. And the winter advancing apace in those Climates I principally entended to discover, I thought it not adviseable to proceed that way at this time of the year; hoping it may give their Lopps some satisfaction if I do curiously adjust the Longitude of most of the plantations and see what may be discovered in relation to the Variation of the Needle in the Northern Hemisphere. Twas the last of November before we left the coast of England; wch considering the uncertainty of the Winds was I find above two months too late: but I hope to be in England time enough to proceed again this year if their Lopps shall think fitting to allow it. We watred in the river of Paraiba in Brasile where the Governour Dom Manuel Soarez Albergaria was very obliging and civill, but the portuguez, as farr as I could guess, were very willing to find pretences to seize us, and tempted us severall times to meddle with a sort of wood they call Poo de Brasile, which is an excellent dye, but prohibited to all forreig[ners] under pain of confiscation of Shipp and goods. I being a[ware of] their design absolutely refused all commerce with them, and having gotten our water we arrived here in three weeks, on the second of this month: Our whole shipps company is hither in perfect health and our provision proves very good.

I am

Honoured Sr

Your most obedient Servant

Edm. Halley

I do find it amusing that although Halley says he thought the other ship might be a pirate, he nevertheless sends his boat to ask them why they fired at him!

Harrison disobeys Halley’s orders

On the morning of 2 April 1699, off the eastern side of Barbados, we get another glimpse of Lieutenant Harrison’s animosity towards Captain Halley, when he ignores Halley’s orders and attempts to sail Paramore round the north end of Barbados, although the road into the island is at the southern end.

If you missed Halley’s tweets over the last two days, here’s how he described what happened in his logbook:

Aprill 1st. about 6 in the Evening, the Sunn then Ready to Sett, we discover’d the Topps of the Island of Barbadoes, at such a distance as it was Scarce possible to see it farther; it bearing West and WbS by Compass, about 8 Leagues off as we judged. We went away SW till 10h, and then lay by till day, with our head to the Southward, and by Morning Aprill 2[nd]. we were so farr to the Southward, that we could Scarce See the Island bareing NNW. my Lieuten[t]. then haveing the Watch clapt upon a wind, pretending that we ought to goe to Windward of the Island, and about the North end of it, whereas the Road is at the most Southerly part almost. he persisted in this Course, which was Contrary to my orders given overnight, and to all Sence and reason, till I came upon Deck; when he was so farr from excusing it, that he pretended to justifie it; not without reflecting Language

Mr Hally has gott a ship: the origins of Halley’s voyage

“Mr Hally has gott a ship from the government, in which he has sett sail to goe round the globe on new discoverys, and the rectifying of geography…”, so wrote James Gregory to the Reverend Colin Campbell in May 1699, when Halley was by then on his way back to England. [1] But how had Halley, a natural philosopher and Clerk to the Royal Society, “gott” his ship and why had he been made her Master and Commander?

Halley’s voyage began on 20 October 1698, but it was first discussed nearly six years earlier and then suffered a number of false starts before Halley finally weighed anchor. The earliest references date from 1693, and the proposed voyage was rather different from that which eventually took place.

At a meeting of the Royal Society on 12 April 1693 it was minuted that:

The President was pleased to propose to the Society a Paper lately offered him by Mr. Bengamin Middleton, requesting the Assistence of this Society to procure for him a small Vessell of about 60. Tuns to be fitted out by the Government, but to be victualled, and manned at his own proper charges. And this in order to compass the Globe to make observations in the Magneticall Needle &c. The President in the name of the Society promised to use his endeavours towards the obtaining such a Vessell. [2]

Benjamin Middleton was a Fellow of the Royal Society, elected in 1687, and appears periodically in the minutes, usually reporting on matters relating to Barbados, where he owned property. He was probably the son of Colonel Thomas Middleton, a Navy Commissioner and colleague of Pepys, and may have been the Benjamin Middleton who attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge and had been admitted to Gray’s Inn.

Although Halley isn’t mentioned in the minute, he seems to have been involved in the project from the outset as Robert Hooke noted “Hally [talking] of Going in Middletō[n's] ship to Disc[over]” in his diary some three months before the Royal Society minute; while Middleton’s proposal to the Society, dated March 1693, stated:

… It is therefore most humbly prayed that this Honble: Company would please to Lend their Assistence … to Obtaine of their Matys: a vessell … for a voyage to be undertaken by Benjamin Middleton Esqr. and Edmond Halley … the designe being to compass the Globe from East to West through the great South Sea. And the said Benj: Middleton … does oblige himselfe to goe the Voyage and to Victuall and Man the said Vessell at his owne proper Costs and Charges … And the Care of Making the Necessary Observations is undertaken by the sd. Edmund Halley, whose Capacity for Such Purposes is Supposed to be Sufficiently knowne to this Honble: Company. [3]

So the plan was that Middleton would finance the voyage if the government would provide the ship, and Halley would perform the observations – and their original intention was nothing less than to sail round the world!

In July 1693, the Admiralty informed the Navy Board that Middleton’s petition had been presented to the Queen, who was “graciously pleased to incourage the said undertakeing”, and directed the Board to give instructions for a vessel to be built. [4]

The vessel – Paramore - was ready for launching in April 1694 but the records then fall silent and nothing seems to happen till 11 February 1696 when the Admiralty communicated their intention to have Paramore fitted out as an Advice Boat – the Halley-Middleton voyage was off.

But just one week later the Admiralty wrote again, countermanding the order to refit her as she will now “proceed on ye. Service for which shee was built.” [5]

There are several suggestions why nothing happened after her launch and why the project was almost abandoned in February 1696: it may have been because of Queen Mary’s death in December 1694, or because of events in the Nine Years’ War, or because of the personal circumstances of either Halley or Middleton: given what happened next, I’d guess that something had changed in the affairs of Benjamin Middleton.

At this point, Halley, a man who got things done, took over the project and all correspondence was either addressed to Halley or refers to him, unlike the first phase when all documentation referred almost exclusively to Middleton.

Middleton makes just one more appearance, in a letter of June 1696 in which Halley advised the Admiralty of the number and quality of men he intended taking as crew. Middleton is mentioned as still going on the voyage, but it is now Sir John Hoskins who is named as providing security for the crew’s wages, though I suppose this could have been a precaution against Middleton dying on the voyage.

Sir John gave the required bond of £600, and on 4 June 1696 Halley received his commission as ‘Master and Commander without Instructions’. What experience Halley had to justify receiving this command of a Royal Navy ship will be looked at during his second voyage.

Twelve months’ stores were ordered and warrants for three officers issued, but then in August 1696 the Admiralty ordered that Paramore be laid up in the wet dock at Deptford until further notice – the voyage was off again.

This time we know the reason for the postponement, it was because Halley had accepted Newton’s offer to become Deputy Comptroller at the regional Mint at Chester during the Great Recoinage, and Halley was there from about autumn 1696 until spring 1698.

Once back in London he revived his plans for the voyage, and during this phase its status seems to have changed from a private to a government-funded project. There doesn’t seem to be a request for security to cover the crew’s wages, Halley has £100 imprest to him by the Admiralty for expenses – and unlike his first commission, his second, dated 19 August 1698, included a set of instructions.

Yet there was another delay during this third phase of preparations, for although Paramore was purposely built for Halley’s voyage and finally set sail on 20 October 1698 under his command, Halley was not the first man to command her – but that interesting person is a subject for a future post …

[1] The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, Vol IV, Letter 611

[2] Royal Society, Journal Book Original, JBO/9, p 118

[3] British Library, Sloane MS 4024; Royal Society, Collectanea Newtoniana, Vol IV

[4] National Maritime Museum, ADM/A/1797

[5] National Archives, ADM 2/176 p 459

At Fernando Loronho

On February 19* the Paramore anchors off the island of Fernando Loronho (modern day Fernando de Noronha) and remains there until the 23rd when Halley leaves for Pernambuco (Recife), having found no fresh water on the island.

Halley’s description of the island is interesting because it includes two drawings – a profile of the island as seen from the sea, and a plan of the island, which is reproduced below. It isn’t possible to say who made the drawings but the handwriting on the plan is the same as the logbook, so it was probably his clerk, Caleb Harmon.

The next day we came to an Anchor under the Lee of the Island, haveing narrowly escaped a Sunk Rock; that lies off the SW point of the Island. I went on Shore to see what the Iseland might afford us, but found nothing but Small Turtle Doves and Land Crabbs in abundance, neither Goats nor hogs nor any people; we saw many green Turtle in the Sea and in Someplaces their Tracks on the Sand, but could Catch none, by reason of the great Suff of the Sea; we searcht the whole Lee Side of the Iseland but found no fresh water; we lookt not on the windward side because we found such a Suff on the Lee side: here we againe scrubb’d our Shipp and gott some Wood and Sett up all our Shrouds and brought our Masts more aft. we found a four Clock Moon to make high Water, and it flows about 6 Foot on a Spring. The Variation observed on Shore was not full 3 degrees East. The Island is but Small, about 7 Miles Long and very Narrow. the Middle thereof is in Latt 3°57′ South, and Longit by reckoning from London 23°.40′ West. The Appearance thereof when the high pico like a Steeple bears SWbW at 5 Leagues distance is thus -

[profile of island - a simple outline drawing]

[plan of island - see below]

Extract from Halley’s first logbook: The plan of the Island Fernando Loronho (© British Library Add MSS 30368 f.4r)

*  The date is unclear, they may have anchored on February 18.

The Boatswain

Halley doesn’t often write about what’s happening aboard the Paramore, about his interactions with his crew, but on the few occasions that he does, it hints at the unpleasantness he is experiencing and which we’ll hear rather more about at the end of the voyage.

One of these occasions is on 18* February 1699, and it brings to an end the longest tabulated section of his logbook. Halley writes:

This Morning between two and three looking out I found that my Boatswain who had the Watch, Steard a way NW instead of W (we now baring down W. for the Iseland of Fernando Loronho) I conclude with a designe to miss the Iseland, and frustrate my Voyage, though they pretended the Candle was out in the Bittacle, and they could not light it.

Halley’s boatswain was called John Dodson and there are records to show he served as gunner on a ketch, the Quaker, and then as gunner on the Joseph until August 1698 when he was appointed boatswain and gunner on the Paramore.

A boatswain was a warrant officer in charge of sails, rigging, cables and the like, who generally began as an ordinary seaman but who would have sufficient education to be able to account for stores and make written reports to the Navy Board.

Dodson was thus a man of basic education who had probably been at sea since his early youth, a very different type of man from Halley, the Oxford-educated, property-owner’s son. It’s not too difficult to imagine Dodson being resentful of the natural philosopher’s command of the ship – though it does seem surprising that his resentment would run so high as to cause him to try to miss landfall when the ship is running out of water. I take it his purpose is to make Halley look incompetent and encourage the thirsty crew to blame the inexperienced Halley for their plight.

Halley certainly took an immediate dislike to Dodson on his appointment, and he was one of the officers that prompted Halley to ask that his mate, Edward Harrison, be given the rank of lieutenant, the better to keep them in order – a disastrous request, as time will show.

* The date is unclear and the incident may have happened on the morning of the 17th.

Halley’s first logbook

Halley is now three months into his first voyage and I thought it was time to write about his logbook or journal, as they were called at that time.

Fig 1. First page of the log of Halley’s first voyage, in another hand (© British Library Add MSS 30368 f.1r)

Halley’s first journal is written on plain paper, roughly 41cm high by 27cm wide. It covers 17 sides, with the last side being an appendix, which I’ll describe at the end of the voyage.

The log is not in Halley’s hand but presumably that of his clerk, Caleb Harmon, and so the spelling and punctuation of the tweets are Harmon’s, not Halley’s. If you read the log straight through, there are one or two places where you get a sense of Halley giving dictation, of seeming to conclude a sentence, pausing, and then adding another phrase – which I found rather thrilling.

The first page (Fig 1) begins with this heading:

A Journall of a Voyage in his Majesties Pink the Paramore entended for the Discovery of the Variation of the Magneticall Compass by Edmund Halley, Comandr.

Note the spelling ‘Paramore‘ and ‘Edmund‘, which I’ve written about previously.

The journal has three distinct formats, which illustrate the evolving style of ships’ logs in the late seventeenth century. The first two sides and most of the last two sides are in diary form, with each entry written alongside the relevant date, though Halley sometimes combines events that occurred on different days, as he does in the first entry for October 20 (“…and that next day…”).

Fig 2. Page from the log of Halley’s first voyage, in another hand (© British Library Add MSS 30368 f.2v)

In between these pages, the journal comprises data tables, interspersed with more general text (Fig 2). The tables reflect late seventeenth century administrative reforms, an element of which, was to standardise the logs of ships. In these standardised logs, data relating to wind, course, miles covered, latitude, longitude and bearings of landmarks last seen were entered in columns on the left-hand page, while any remarkable occurrences were entered on the right-hand page. The tables in Halley’s journal are a modified version of these.

There are nine tables of consecutive days, with the shortest covering two days (January 1-2) and the longest forty-three days (Jan 6-Feb 17). I didn’t intend to tweet this data initially, as it doesn’t make for very interesting tweets, but then decided that too much useful information would be lost if I didn’t, such as tracking Halley as he moves south through the latitudes and seeing the drop in wind and miles covered when he hits what we now call ‘the doldrums’.

The general text that sits between the tables is the most problematic to tweet. It appears to have been written sometime after the events it describes and a date is rarely assigned to the text, and while there are clues that enable you to work out the relationship between the days covered – “this morning”, “the next day”, “that evening” – without some hint of a date, you cannot identify on which dates the individual days’ events fall. In these instances, I have looked for as many internal clues as I could to try to work out the most likely dates, but in some places the clues are so few that I have simply spread the entries across the dates between the tables in a way that hopefully makes sense. The trickiest passages of all to tweet are those where he refers to events on a specified date in the future, then in the past, and then returns to the present. I hope these entries won’t be too confusing when they occur!

The handwriting throughout is neat and easy to read. The greatest difficulty was deciding whether certain initial letters were upper or lower case: an initial ‘s’ frequently looks like a capital (‘Some’ and ‘Several’ as well as ‘Sea’ and ‘Sand’), while an initial ‘p’ almost always appears to be lower case (‘portsmouth’ and ‘plymouth’). In places where I really couldn’t decide, I have usually followed Thrower.

And speaking of Thrower, his published version (from the Hakluyt Society) has been enormously helpful. I made my transcription by hand, typed it up into tweets, checked it against Thrower’s, and then went back and checked any differences against the manuscript. As a novice transcriber, having another transcription to check mine against was a great benefit – I might not have embarked on the project without it.