Manuscripts - Postal History - Royal Navy and The Caribbean,...

Hammer

£60

Manuscripts - Postal History - Royal Navy and The Caribbean, Jamaica - a George III ink manuscript crossed letter, addressed to [Commander] Joseph Baker Esqr., Commander of H.M.S. Calypso, Port Royal, Jamaiaca/by the Packet June 3rd 1801, from his wife Elizabeth (née Weyermann), and principally concerning domestic matters, the script typically written frugally horizontally and vertically across the one sheet of paper, Bishop Mark: A.J.U. 801 enclosing the number 6, traces of red wax seal, the sheet 37cm x 23cm, dated 1801

Joseph Baker RN (1768-1817), the career sailor and future cartographer, by birth was maternally related to the famous Admiral Vernon. Entering the service in 1781 he initially served in the West Indies during the American Revolutionary War, on various vessels and under various commands, and saw action against the French at the Battle of the Saints in April 1782. Before the French Revolutionary War, Baker, among other orders, mapped in North America, but come 1st March 1799, he was appointed commander of H.M.S. Calypso (1783) and tasked with escorting a convoy from Cork to Jamaica, which saw an attack from Spanish ships. Eventually stationed at the Jamaica Station, H.M.S. Calypso conveyed troops from Jamaica to Honduras in March 1801; before Baker received this letter from his wife. After a bout of unemployment, Baker went on to serve in the Napoleonic Wars, sailed in Estonian and Russian waters, survived a court-martial, commanded a prisoner-of-war near Bristol, and ended his days in residence at Presteigne, Dadnorshire.
H.M.S. Calypso herself sunk on 30th July 1803 with the loss of all hands.