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29 Oct 57 Peter on board 'Tynemouth' Mother 1, Hyde Park Place ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Oct 29th

Straits of Malacca

My dear Mother

Here I am at length again – a wanderer – & with nothing but books before me to pass away the time; I sit down now to change the subject a little by transferring my own thoughts to paper.

On the 17th (Saturday week) the ship left Calcutta & dropped down to Garden Reach to start out early next morning.

I was so long saying goodbye to my friends that it was dark ere I could find the ship. I had sent my servant on Board with my things; had told him to wait for me & in the mean time had paid & discharged all my establishment, hotel Bill & expenses so that when I could not find the ship & was obliged to return to get a nights lodging at Calcutta, I had nowhere to go to & no one to wait on me.

In addition to this, I had left £14 in Bengal Notes to be changed into gold at the Hotel & every one had gone for the day & of course would not be there on the morrow (Sunday) so that I was in a pretty fix.

I saw a prospect of not getting my money & I saw no chance of either reaching or finding the ship (for I knew not where she was) before she sailed, which she would do with daylight, before which time I could not see her. Somehow things always turn up straight if treated philosophically, so I did all I could & awaited the consequence.

I slept in an armchair at a friend’s, ordered a Buggy at half past 3 in the morning. Luckily with some difficulty got my money & my servant, tired of waiting on board for me, finding me out at 1 o’clock in the morning, guided me to the ship safely by daylight.

But the very reasons whh. had prevented my finding her the evening before were those which facilitated my reaching her at last instead of losing my passage & luggage. She had lost her anchors the evening before & had consequently floated some distance further down the river than she expected & this loss detained her till Tuesday when she started at 4 in the morning.

We had had head winds ever since altho’ it is supposed there is a strong monsoon in our favour so instead of being 12 days to Singapore, I don’t know how long we shall be.

You must have noticed how shaky my hand is & when I tell you that I am only just recovering from a fortnight’s illness you will not be surprized.

Ever since I left Calcutta I have been fearfully miserable & consequently ill. Until the last day or so I have not opened my mouth either to speak or to eat but those sort of feelings cannot last for ever. After a storm comes a calm & with some good healthy sea breezes a change of scene in China, I hope to be myself again.

I have a long time before me & I will do my best to make it as pleasant as I can. If I have not heard from home I will say ‘no news is good news’ & will fancy as I every night almost dream that I have just received a large packet – somehow mislaid.

Nov 5th

I did not forget Arthur’s birthday yesterday, nor did I cease to wonder whether he was successful in his Indian Examination & if so, whether he was not perhaps on his way to Madras. I am sorry it is not a Bengal appointment. They are so far superior to the other presidencies.

On the whole however I am sorry he is coming out to India at all. I have been there myself & have seen a little of the country & I would never recommend any one to go into the Company’s army. It is a mistake to suppose you are independent. On the contrary, the probability is that you get heavily in debt which, if unassisted, it takes years to wipe off. Then I never came across such a queer rough lot of fellows in my life.

And the civil service – supposed to contain the talent of the world – if you could only have seen the characters assembled at Spences,* you would have been ashamed to have owned them as Englishmen. As for their talents, they may have studied hard enough to be able to answer a number of questions ridiculous enough to puzzle a man of sense but I should certainly strongly doubt their ability to carry on what they are, or will be expected to. I think they will find at this rate that the competition system is all fudge & that with the presentation they got much better men.

It is a notable fact that all our great men never distinguished themselves in their juvenile days & I think by the same rule that these wonders of the world who have distinguished themselves will never make great men (I think Sir Robt. Peel was the only exception to the rule). Then the Company’s service is very much looked down upon by the Queen’s.

We are approaching Singapore & expect to be there at 12 o’clock tonight. As the moon shines brightly just now we may get into harbour even at night.

I have written to Teddy* at Hong Kong. Perhaps he will not be there. If he is, I have asked him for all the news & as we only expect to remain here about a week & then start for Shanghai, I hope we get a letter from him soon after my arrival there.

I have even told him that it is not impossible that I may pay him a visit. If so, I should have to raise some more money but I do not think you will blame me for that for while so near the capital of our Chinese possession and at this eventful period it amply repays me to do so. Besides I have letters to Hong Kong & know not of what importance it may be to me to present them. But even if I only see Hong Kong & the way things are carried on there, it may be of great assistance to me hereafter.

The 5th November – a day now doubly celebrated for gunpowder plot & Inkerman, has passed almost without my knowing it. I must now record it as the date of my arrival at Singapore, the capital of our Empire on the Malay coast.

I am very sorry we never went, as expected to do, to Penang

P.G.L

* Spences – Spence’s Hotel, Calcutta. Opened by John Spence about 1830

* Teddy – His first cousin, Edmund Lloyd (1829-1904)

The envelope was franked in Singapore (date illegible)