Narrative of Voyages to Explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar

William Fitzwilliam Owen (1774-1857) was a British naval officer. Between 1821 and 1826 he commanded an expedition to Africa, Arabia and Madagascar with the Royal Navy ships Leven and Barracouta, during which he mapped some 30,000 miles of coastline. His memoirs of the voyage are presented in this two-volume account, first published in 1833. In Volume 1, Owen describes the native peoples and wildlife he encountered, and the tragic deaths of many of his crew from tropical diseases. In Volume 2, he describes colonial life, native rituals, missionaries, slavery and the virulent tropical illnesses to which many of his crew succumbed.