[Contemporary Docs] "Directions for Sea-Men, Bound for Far Voyages"
The stress on empiricism is clear throughout the “Directions for Sea-men, bound for far Voyages,” published in their Philosophical Transactions of January 8, 1665. The society set out very specific instructions, not only for the duration of the voyage itself, but also for the sailor’s return to England, when it was suggested that proper protocol would dictate that a “fair Copy” of any manuscript should be delivered to the Lord Admiral and another to the Society itself. Clearly, England’s mariners were now seen as useful extensions of the Society, reporting not only to the naval administration or merchant investors who directed their voyages but also to the scientific establishment centered in London. Due to the shifting values of the global economic enterprise, the mariner’s information (if reliable) was as prized as the more immediately tangible manifestations of foreign wealth. The empirical seafarer’s journal (and thus, the pirate other) became a vital constituent part of the nation’s intellectual and economic domain.
Beginning on the bottom of page 140, below, is the original transcript of the Directions for Sea-Men, Bound for Far Voyages. The material can be examined in the header, or downloaded into a variety of formats.