A rare pamphlet regarding the navigation of the Hooghly river, printed in Kolkata (Calcutta) or possibly Sagar Island, by the captain of the EIC Lascelles. The print run of this pamphlet must have been very small: the Lascelles arrived at Saugor on the 26th of April and by the 22nd of July had reached Madras (Chennai), giving only about a month or so in which this pamphlet could have been written and produced.

By 1795 the EIC Lascelles was a well blooded Company trading vessel. Francis Kempt took over its captaincy for its seventh voyage starting in 1794, as trade with Bengal and Madras was reaching its peak. As Kolkata grew in both size and importance, so too did the traffic of ships through the Bay of Bengal and the Hooghly to Diamond Harbour. Kempt produced this pamphlet as a mix of complaint and suggestion - the main problem was a lack of pilots, small ships with the necessary knowledge to navigate larger ships safely through the waters, and most of Kempt's suggestions are concerned with making more pilots available as well as more stores in both Diamond Harbour and Sagar Island for re-provisioning.

He was not alone in his desire for aids in navigating the tricky river. Aaron Upjohn had published his first map of the river Hooghly two years prior: before then the maps were based on written accounts rather than accurate surveys and did little to help sea-going vessels attempting to navigate the river.

Underneath the practical mercantile matters an interesting picture of Kolkata and the Hooghly is revealed. The monsoon season is cited as being one of the main causes of low provisions, sometimes stranding ships in harbour for five or six weeks. And one of Kempt's suggestions is a new school to train pilots, in part to keep the young men 'preserved from the corrupting Dissipations of Calcutta'. At that point the officers of the East India Company in Kolkata lived in luxury whilst an influx of European soldiers and sailors caused a rise in drunkenness and anti-social behaviour. The very same year as this pamphlet a gang of nearly two-hundred Europeans conducted a spate of robberies with a view to target the Hindostan Bank. It is no wonder Clive described Calcutta as 'one of the most wicked Places in the Universe. Corruption, Licentiousness and a want of Principle seem to have possess'd the Minds of all the Civil Servants, by frequent bad examples they have grown callous, Rapacious and Luxurious beyond Conception'.

We can find no trace of any copies in either institutions or commerce: it is likely this is one of, if not the only, copy to survive.

First and only issue; bi-folding folio leaf (33 x 21 cm), three pages of letterpress and small title to verso of final page, folded at some point presumably for despatch, edges uncut, remarkably clean and well preserved.