Abstract
The content is the record 1 of the voyage that Captain John Saris (1579/1580-1643), the commander of the British East India Company s eighth voyage to East India, made by a fleet of three ships, viz., the , the , and the , commanding 262 sailors.The voyage was from England to Bantam on the island of Java, and by the alone from Bantam to Hirado, Japan, which constituted the destination, and the return.The record is not confined to the log of the voyage that started at the sailing from Downs, England on April 18, 1611 and ended with the return to Plymouth, England on September 27, 1614.While in Hirado, Saris took a round trip from there to Suruga and Edo to gain audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu and Hidetada, the first two Tokugawa Shoguns, and was given Ieyasu s reply letter to King James I as well as a special trade charter.With materials and information obtained during the voyage, like those given by Tokugawa Ieyasu, inserted at appropriate places, the record is more than a log, constituting something close to a travel record.