![]() ![]() In some years, a third of Company staff died of cholera, typhoid, and malaria. It was thought to take five years to acclimatise, but most people were lucky to last two monsoons. The ports and trading posts that the Company's officials visited harboured many unknown diseases to which they did not have any resistance. ![]() ![]() More than 100 out of 480 men had died by the time Sir James Lancaster's first fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1601.Įven on shore, a sailor or merchant was not safe. Scurvy and the ‘flux’ (dysentery) claimed many victims, as did the unsanitary conditions. Illness was common on board ship during the early voyages. On other occasions, Company trading posts and settlements were attacked. This was especially true in the earlier periods when there were fewer ships.Ĭompany servants could also be imprisoned by local rulers or captured by pirates. Frosty receptionsĮven if a crew member managed to survive a shipwreck and get to shore it was often very difficult to return to England from Asia. About five per cent of the Company's ships were wrecked or lost at sea. Sailors might not see land for weeks at a time and shipwreck was a constant danger. Shipwreckīefore the mid-18th century and the development of accurate instruments, successful navigation relied on the skills and knowledge of individuals. ![]() The British Empire is our most recent addition and during the manuscript session we analyse the dangers the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) had to overcome to develop its trade - let alone become the basis of an Empire. These sessions include the Spanish Armada invasion of 1588, Transatlantic Slavery and Abolition, and the British Empire - how trade became an Empire. One department we work with on a weekly basis is the education team, providing a manuscript session for a series of lessons offered to schools. The Caird Library and Archive works with lots of other departments across the Royal Museums Greenwich sites, from conservation (endeavouring to protect the documents we work with) to exhibitions (for designing display cases). ![]()
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