Papers of John Edye

Paper originally titled "Description of the various classes of vessels constructed and employed by the natives of the coasts of Coromandel, Malabar and the island of Ceylon, for their coasting navigation". John Edye catalogues, classifies and provides short descriptions (with original drafts) of the main river and ocean-going vessels used in Southern India in 1829. The vessels covered range from fishing canoes to ocean-going Dhows and Baggalahs, and provide a comprehensive overview.

John Edye was a shipwright and navy man who worked as Master Shipwright at the Royal Navy Dockyard at Trincomali (modern Trincomalee, Sri Lanka) for five years coinciding with 1829. He then worked at the Chatham Dockyard by at least 1832 before moving to the Department of the Surveyor of the Navy in 1834. Edye was made Chief Clerk at the Surveyor of the Navy's office and worked with Surveyor William Symonds on his many new designs for the Royal Navy's sailing fleet.

Edye's experience in Southern India gave him an expertise and interest in the region's maritime context which continued even after he returned to Britain. He contributed papers reporting on the state of Southern India's ships, ports and natural products to the Royal Asiatic Society's journals in 1834 and 1835, and was approved as a member of the society in 1835 before retiring from the Society's affairs in 1843.

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The source of acquisition was Major-General Sir John Malcolm.

There is a printed copy of the handwritten manuscript as Article 1 in the 1834 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 1-15)

This material was cataloged by Jake Todd, RAS Volunteer, under the supervision of Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2023.

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John Edye originally wrote this paper at some point prior to 1829 when he was still working in Trincomali. It only came to the Royal Asiatic Society's attention through the intervention of Major-General Sir John Malcolm. Malcolm relates his chance meeting with Edye on visit to Chatham Dockyard in an introductory letter attached to the original manuscript, in which he requests that the Society consider publishing the paper in their 'Transactions'.

The paper saw its reading commence at the Society's General Meeting on 18th May 1833 and conclude on 1st June 1833, and the decision was made by 15th June 1833 to print both the paper and Malcolm's attached letter in the 1834 edition of the Transactions of the Society.

In addition to the official publishing of the paper as Article 1 in the 1834 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 1-15). There are references to the initial reading of the paper in the 1833 Minutes of General Meeting (p. 80 + 83), the 1833 Register of Communications (p. 87) as well as the 1833 Minutes of Council (p. 23).

The paper is also referred to later on in the 1834 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 161) by Alexander Johnston, Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, during its record of the Society's anniversary meeting on 10 May 1834. Johnston refers to the paper in the context of introducing steam-navigation between Britain and India, and he also states that Edye is preparing two further papers for the Society, which seemed to have been later merged into one paper covering both the ports and natural products available in Southern India for naval purposes. This second paper was published as Article 17 in the 1835 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 324-377).

Edye was made a member of the Society in same year, as recorded in the 1835 List of Members (p. lxviii) and retired from the Society in 1843, as recorded in the 1843 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. ii).