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(More customer reviews)Edward Cree's log of his decades as a Royal Navy sawbones is an invaluable source on Britain's Far Eastern empire in the mid-1800s. The text contains useful primary evidence of expeditions in East and Southeast Asian waters, along with material on India and the Mediterranean. It displays the prejudices of a man of his time, but Cree could be a sympathetic observer of foreign peoples, and presents some interesting details. This edition is very well-supplied with essential maps for identifying unfamiliar sites. But the real revelation here is his illustrations, some sketches but mostly watercolors. They offer unforgettable eyewitness scenes of Opium War battles, anti-pirate campaigns in the South China Sea, and many other vignettes. His painting of Hong Kong's unspoiled Happy Valley, before it developed into a colonial pleasure ground, is just one among many striking views. These brilliant illustrations deserve broader exposure and inclusion in future works on the region's history. Though production costs were probably high, it's a shame this work is OP.
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