| Description | The memoirs are thought to have been written by Leslie during his retirement, with events commencing in 1859. There is a shortage of specific dates but the information on life at sea, responsibilities and the formalities of commerce provide a wealth of information on the period from 1860 to the close of the 19th century.
The pages of the memoirs have been numbered by Leslie, and subsequently by the transcriber, Marlene Weston, a friend of the depositor, who has also corrected some numerical mistakes in the original numbering. The typed transcription by Weston contains two copy photographs of Leslie and his wife.
Leslie adopts the pen name, John Lindsay, and modifies names of employers, colleagues, some locations and most of the ships on which he sailed. The most notable re-namings are Aberdeen which is called 'Deeport' and the company he worked for George Milne & Co., which is called 'Meelyn & Co.'. A note in MS 3884/1/5 clearly shows the original names of the ships on which he sailed with his own adaptation of the name noted next to the corresponding vessel. On the reverse of the sheet are some of the names he uses for people and companies. Despite transposing these names, the nature of the worldwide voyages, the other vessels encountered and the trade of the period from 1860 to 1900, are thought to be largely factual. |