The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner by john nicol

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

I loved this book simply because it gives a rare insight into the life of an ordinary person in the late eighteenth century.

Nicol was a Scottish seaman who spent his adult life in the merchant navy and latterly as a "pressed man" in the British Royal Navy.

He speaks eloquently of his voyages from whaling off Greenland to meeting the natives of the Sandwich Islands (The Hawiian Islands) just days after Captain Cook was murdred there.

He also gives first-hand accounts of three levels on depravity in man's inhumaity to man - pressed men in the Royal Navy (esentially men forced to serve on war ships for indeterminate periods), the transportation of convicts from British jails to Port Jackson (modern day Sydney Australia) to the lowest of the low, the slaves in the West Indies.

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AzureDaora

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

If you like narratives of early maritime voyages, you will enjoy this work. John Nicol (1755-1825) sailed on a number of British ships between 1776 and 1801. His writings were recently rediscovered and edited by Tim Flannery, Director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. Especially enjoyable is a chapter on transporting women prisoners from London to Botany Bay, Australia; any one of the women's stories could be the basis of a fascinating book or motion picture.

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FarrelSal

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

This is a wonderful little book, that deserves to be far better known than it is. In early 19th century Edinburgh, a man named John Howell made a habit of recording the life stories of military men and adventurers, and it is thanks to him that today we can read the amazing tale of John Nicol, who circumnavigated the world twice, sailed the Pacific coast of the American continent from Nootka Sound to Cape Horn, was in China 3 times, fought the French as a sailor in Nelson's fleet, met the Hawaiians who killed Captain Cook, hunted whales off Greenland, and much more. Nicol was in his own words, a simple "bungs" (i.e. a cooper). It is so rare to hear the voice of an ordinary man from this period, and Nicol's tale provides fascinating insights into the lives of ordinary people in the late 18th century.

As examples, in St.John's, Newfoundland, he comments that "At this time the greater part of the fishers were Irishmen, the wildest characters man can conceive...Their quarrelling and fighting never ceased." He continues that it was unsafe to go out after dark and that "The respectable inhabitants are thus kept under a sort of bondage to this riotous race." In China the people were "the most oppressed people I ever was amongst. They must want even a wife if they are not rich enough to pay the tax imposed by the mandarin." Adding to the enjoyment of reading the book is the fact that Nicol comes over as thoroughly likeable, even something of an innocent. Although not totally free of the attitudes prevailing at the time, he is open and tolerant, and identifies with the underdog in a way that is very attractive to the modern reader. In seeing the treatment of slaves in the Caribbean he comments "No stranger can witness the cruelty unmoved" and relates how he and his friend George Innes came across an overseer flogging a woman who was "big with child...George ran to him and gave him a good beating, and swore he would double the gift if he laid another lash upon her." In describing the Hawaiian Islands he relates "Even now I would prefer them to any country I was ever in. The people so kind and obliging, the climate so fine and provisions so abundant..."

After 25 years at sea Nicol returned to Edinburgh and married at the age of forty-six. Almost at once though he was forced to flee inland as war had broken out again and, as an experienced sailor, Nicol was being hunted by the notorious press gang. For an astonishing 11 years he lived as a fugitive and yet remained fiercely loyal to the British Government. "I had broken His Majesty's bread for 14 years and would not, on that account, hear His Government spoken against."

Howell came across Nicol on the streets of Edinburgh when, reduced to extreme poverty, Nicol was collecting fragments of coal that had fallen between the cobbles, that he would use to light a fire. The story has a happy ending, since Howell turned over the book royalties to Nicol, who was able to live out his last years in comfort.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in social history.

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Graymare

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

This book is a gem and the only known account of the Lady Juliana, which brought 200 plus convict women to Australia after the first fleet. John Nicols fell in love on board with Sarah Whitlam, a convict who had his son before the ship arrived in Australia. Separated at gun point shortly after arrival in Australia, John Nicols would spend the next decade trying to be reunited with Sarah and their son.

For anyone who finishes this and wonders what Sarah’s side of the story is, a great follow up to read is The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an Eighteenth-Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts

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Makkasu

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

If you've ever seen the pantomime 'Dick Whittington', the hero famously leaves his village for London Town, where the streets are said to be paved with gold, carrying all he owns on his back and in a red spotted handkerchief tied to a stick over his shoulder.

John Nicol's true story is something like that, on a global scale. It's the autobiography of a boy from a humble background in Scotland who became a steward and cooper looking after the stores on sailing ships who fulfilled his youthful ambition to sail the world. From China to India, the West Indies to Canada and America, over the course of a fifty year life at sea he circumnavigated the world multiple times. His humane observations of the people he met and worked with and his acceptance of a life where being press-ganged into the Royal Navy was frequently his lot in far-flung ports are a fantastic window on a world that had not yet shrunk with the telegraph and steamships. Well worth a read.

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La_BigTreee

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

I cannot decide how many stars to give this book! Yes, it is amazing that there even exists a book about an ordinary person's life back in the latter half of the 1700s. It's amazing how much he travelled (twice around the globe). Here is an unpretentious, nice guy who simply adores travelling, seeing new places, learning about his world. And he did no much - took part in the naval battles fought by Britain when America sought independence and also the naval battles following the French Revolution. He fought against the Spanish, he fought off of Egypt, was stationed in Malta and more. He was on the ship Juliana that took women conscripts to Australia and fell head over heels in love with one of theses women. He visited China, Canton, so many times that he could say that he went and visited his Chinese friends again! He saves a Chinese boy from drowning and subsequently gets invited into Chinese homes. He was in Hawai immediately after Captain Cooks visit there. He danced and ate and drank with Hawaian women. He is stuck in Artic ice, and although I have read whole books about how terrible this is - he sums it up in one beautiful paragraph. The book doesn't need editing. It is short and quick and to the point. It is really quite amazing. The maps in the paperback version totally suck, so get out your atlas. Nevertheless 5 stars feels wrong, and even 4 stars too. So it gets 3 - but you SHOULD read the book. This book fills me with surprise, rather than engagement, and I like to be engaged. I have a hunch that it is because the book is of "another era" that it doesn't get more stars, and honestly that isn't fair. No, it gets 4 stars.

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sh1roooo

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

What a unique an interesting book! The world in the late 18th century, as told by a common sailor.

I would recommend skipping the introduction, as it’s basically a summary of the book and contains many spoilers.

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TruthSpitterTM

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

March 26,2025

This wonderful book is up there with Joshua Slocum's great saga "Sailing Alone Around the World". The two men lived during the same period of history and it's tantalising to think that their paths may well have crossed. When he was a very old man, John Nicol was discovered picking up lumps of coal to keep from freezing, by a publisher who encouraged him to write his memoirs. He writes in his own voice about his many voyages and events that we're more familiar reading about in history books.

Recommended for anyone who is interested in history and the people who lived it.

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The Life and Adventures of John Nicol, Mariner

john nicol tim flannery

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