Series 24 - Leonard Cotton voyage journal

7pp

Photocopy of Hunter, R. J. (1971). 'Dublin to Boston, 1719', Éire-Ireland 6, pp. 18-24. This article contains a trasncript of Leonard Cotton's 1719 transatlantic voyage journal. In his introduction to the journal, Robert J. Hunter writes that it 'describes in an arresting and humorous way the experience of crossing the Atlantic apparently from Dublin to Boston in the early eighteenth-century. It also makes perceptive comments on the state of Boston at that time. It has the further value of being a newcomer to the relatively small body of similar known material for this period. It is taken from the manuscript collection of Magee University College, Londonderry, N. Ireland. Beyond the clear internal evidence that he was interested in trade with Europe, no biographical detail can be provided about the letter's author, Leonard Cotton. His letter seems to indicate that he was of a Boston settler family: he refers to his grandmother as living there.'