Beschreibung:

Title: Public Meeting held at Markwicks Hotel For the Purpose of taking into consideration the measures proper to be pursued to render a lasting tribute of respect to the memory of the late Capt. Horsburgh Author: Wetmore, William, William Jardine Thomas Fox, et. al. Place: Canton, China Publisher: Date: November 22, 1836 Description: Broadside-size printing. 1 page + integral blank leaf. 10x16". Broadside of handwritten notes of the meeting, probably one of a few copies printed for the 9 men in attendance, this copy from the papers of Wetmore, the only American present at the meeting. The text was later reprinted in Canton and Singapore newspapers, but apparently without the list of subscribers. The meeting, chaired by leading British trader William Jardine was called to discuss a memorial for recently-deceased James Horsburgh, Scottish hydrographer of the East India Company, called “The Nautical Oracle of the World”, who in 1809 had published the standard work of navigation for sailing to and from China and India and first mappd the treacherous seaways around Singapore. The 38 subscribers, which including sea Captains and Indian merchants, made contributions for the “erection of some work of public utility as a light house on Pedra Branca, on the Straits of Singapore.” Not until 15 years later was the “Horsburgh Lighthouse” built on the island that is now the easternmost point of Singapore. More than a century after that, both the light house and the land on which it stands became the subject of bitter dispute between Singapore and Malaysia, two countries which, of course, did not exist when these western gentlemen met at Markwick’s to make plans for a tiny slice of the vast British Empire. Lot Amendments Condition: Near fine. Item number: 232911