Whaling Voyages Round the World in the Britannia and Speedy (Capt. Thomas Melvill) 1791–1796 brings to light, for the first time, the remarkable journal of David Brown, surgeon aboard two late-eighteenth-century whaling ships under Captain Thomas Melvill. Preserved for more than 200 years in handwritten manuscript form, Brown’s journal opens an immersive window into the people, places, and ideas that shaped a globalising world.

Written in vivid and engaging prose, the journal reaches far beyond the confines of a whaling logbook. Brown takes readers ashore in newly encountered landscapes—from the fledgling settlement at Sydney Cove to the bustling colonial cities of Rio de Janeiro and Lima. He describes the flora and fauna of the regions they visited, reflects on the philosophical and religious debates of his era, and records encounters with cultures that were, to him, both captivating and surprising. His observations reveal a curious, intelligent mind absorbing a world in transition.

Brown also recounts the remarkable world of sperm whaling, where small crews set out in open boats to chase giant whales, battling them amid the swells of the open ocean. Once a catch was secured, they hauled the immense carcasses alongside their wooden ships, rendered the blubber in great cauldrons over on-board furnaces, and stored the precious oil in barrels. His vivid descriptions restore a maritime world of extraordinary skill, courage, and hardship—one now largely forgotten

The voyages unfold against the backdrop of the French Revolutionary Wars. Sailing through seas shadowed by geopolitical turmoil, Brown and his shipmates navigated uncertain charts, shifting alliances, and the constant threat of French warships and privateers. The journal blends adventure, natural history, geography, anthropology, and naval history into a unified portrait of life at sea and on shore more than two centuries ago.

Comprehensively introduced, richly illustrated, and meticulously annotated, this edition invites readers to sail with Captain Melvill and Surgeon Brown—to enter a world both distant and strangely familiar, and to discover one of the earliest and most perceptive firsthand accounts of the British whaling age.