London, February 24 (ANI): A 170-year-old journal narrating tales of sex and drunkenness on the high seas is expected to fetch 4,000 pounds at an auction.
Junior officer James Bell recorded the shenanigans that apparently took place at the vessel the Planter which sailed from London to Adelaide in November 1838.
The 225-page account in the leather-bound notebook reveals the time spent by the crew on either getting drunk, fighting or having sex with female passengers.
Historian Felix Pryor catalogued the journal, which is set to be placed under the hammer by auctioneers Bonhams next month.
"I have never seen anything like it. I was expecting a gentle story of sightings of flying fish and the like and instead was faced with this extraordinary story of sex, drunkenness and fighting," the Daily Express quoted Pryor as saying.
"It reads like a Monty Python sketch, an idiotic caricature of life at sea. It reads like one big orgy. With all this whoring and drunkenness, it is amazing the ship ever arrived in Australia," Pryor added.
One account in the diary refers to the 11 daughters of a doctor-preacher from Liverpool called McGowan, and the prostitutes who were onboard.
Bell qrote: "Our captain made love to two of McGowan's daughters. Such example was soon followed by all the ship's company, -particularly the three mates who -carried immorality to a glaring height, particularly the first mate, whom I saw take farewell of a wife and child at Deptford." (ANI)
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