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A journal of a voyage to and from the Cape of Good Hope / Robert Henry Dingley
One of the gems in Special Collections is now exactly 200 years old.
It is a handwritten book entitled A journal of a voyage to and from the Cape of Good Hope, with some sketches of the interior of that colony. Many of the sketches are in colour, giving one a vivid idea of life aboard ship in 1812. Its age, uniqueness and subject matter might make it the most valuable book in the library.
The name of the author who also made his own sketches, does not appear in the manuscript. He was later identified as Ensign Robert Henly Dingley, who spent three years at the Colony before returning to England.
A transcription of the manuscript was published in the Cape Times Annual of December 1930, a copy of which is held by the South African National Library in Cape Town.
