HOM.15
Mostly Palau, 1783-1793, is the fifteenth volume of the History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents (HOM), compiled and edited by Rodrique Levesque.
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The History of Micronesia: A Collection of Source Documents was complied, edited and published by Rod Levesque from 1992 to 2002. Copyrights were obtained by the Habele Outer Island Education Fund, a US nonprofit, in 2022, which digitized the content to facilitate noncommercial access to, and use of, the twenty-volume series. The PDF file for HOM.15 is roughly 65MB.
Levesque's Summary
Volume 15 is mostly about Palau. It contains 9 parts, including the reprint of 3 rare books: the Account of the Pelew Islands, edited by Keate; the Supplement to said Account, by Rev. Hockin; and the Narrative of Amasa Delano. As for the logbook and narrative of Captain McCluer, who visited the islands in 1791, and stayed for 15 months in 1793-94, it is here published for the first time. By the way, the works of two of his associates. Lieutenants Wedgeborough and Snook appear in the next volumes. The English did establish a colony in Palau, bringing in useful animals and plants, but it did not last.
There are 35 black-and-white illustrations, for instance, showing traditional artifacts of the Palauan culture. The illustration above shows the then-Ibedul, or Chief of Koror, as sketched by Arthur William Devis.
—The shipwreck of the Antelope, Captain Henry Wilson, in 1783: “An Account of the Pelew Islands’ edited by George Keate (facsimile reproduction of the 3rd edition of 1789)
—More basic documents about the Antelope
-Four English ships passed by Sonsorrol and Palau in January 1784
-The ship Inndon, Captain John Eastabrooke, returns to Palau
-The ship Iphigenia, Captain William Douglas, via Palau in April 1788
-The convict ships Alexander and Friendship via Angaur in September 1788: The narrative of Lieutenant Shortland
—Another fleet of 5 English ships sailed past Palau in 1789: The Raymond, Asia, Duke of Montrose, Contractor, Bridgewater
-The ships Panther and Endeavour in 1791, and 1793: The EIC directive
—The narrative of Captain McCluer: “A Supplement to the Account of the Pelew Islands,” edited by Reverend John Pearce Hockin (facsimile reproduction)
—Captain McCluer’s actual logbook of his voyages—Extracts
-The ships Panther and Endeavour in 1791, and 1793: The narrative of Amasa Delano, in a book published in 1817
- Appendix 1. The first vocabulary of the Palauan. language—Analysis by Rod Levesque
Publication Details
Lévesque Rodrigue. History of Micronesia : A Collection of Source Documents. Vol. 15 Mostly Palau: 1783-1793. Gatineau Québec: Lévesque Publications; 2000.
ISBN-10: 0920201156
ISBN-13: 978-0920201152
LCC: DU500 .H58 2000
