In 1805, naval officer Captain Philip Beaver (1766-1813) published his
African Memoranda: Relative to an Attempt to Establish a British
Settlement on the Island of Bulama, on the Western Coast of Africa, in
the Year 1792. Beaver's text in this modern scholarly edition presents
a compelling account of his settlement of the island of Bulama, with a
group of British colonists (275 men, women and children). Arriving in
May-June 1792, the settlers were beset by illness and the hardships of
their tropical environment, and many began to die, or chose to return to
Britain. Despite his super-human efforts to maintain the colony, by 1793
Beaver was also forced to leave the island with only one other original
settler.
Beaver's intriguing, yet modest account of his endeavours, led to public
acclaim for his efforts on behalf of the colony. He was also admired for
his anti-slavery principles and his desire to bring 'cultivation and
commerce' to the region. At a time when Romantic studies recognises the
wider social and historical contexts of the literature that was created,
and the impact of colonialism, abolition and African exploration on our
understanding of the period, this book provides an important nexus that
brings all these aspects together. In fulfilling the myth of the
self-sacrificing national hero (such as that embodied by Admiral Horatio
Nelson), Beaver's account also lends itself to significant debates about
masculinity, heroism and nationalism in the Romantic period.
