In 1623, Sir William Alexander dispatched a ship from London to establish a Scottish colony in present day Nova Scotia. This was his second attempt after a ship dispatched in the previous year turned back before reaching Nova Scotia. The 1623 voyage stopped in St. John’s, Newfoundland to pick up the colonists from the earlier voyage, then sailed to Nova Scotia where it surveyed the coast then returned to St. John’s without establishing a colony. The only record of this voyage was in a pamphlet published by Sir William in 1624. Analysis of an unpublished handwritten journal kept by a Richard Newall on a voyage to Newfoundland in 1623 demonstrates that Richard was on the ship chartered by Sir William on its voyage from London to St. John’s. This journal provides new information on the ship, its crew, the colonists and the merchants involved in the voyage.

Link to paper on IJMH: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0843871415624083