Cmdr Alfred M. Causton RN Samoa Coast with Vaka Canoe & Fale Houses

Commander Alfred M. Causton: Global Travel Sketches from HMS Himalaya 1868–1874

Alfred Malcolm Causton (1845–1921) was born at Shipston on Stour, Worcestershire, the son of Rev Charles Causton MA, who was rector at St Peter's Church, Stretton-on-Fosse. The family had connections with Lasham in Hampshire, where Rev Charles Causton was rector from 1865 to 1881. In later life, when not at sea, Commander Causton was resident at Blackbridge House in nearby Winchester.

From 1868 Causton served on board the Royal Navy troopship HMS Himalaya. The travel sketches in this collection were produced during the Himalaya's global voyages 1868–1874. The ship was said at the time to be the biggest ever built. She could carry up to 3000 soldiers and served as a troopship for four decades, being finally decommissioned in 1894.

Causton's sketches chart coastal landscapes in far-flung corners of the British Empire. They evidence the pervasive presence of British forces across the globe, and the vast distances travelled by naval seamen. Causton travels from Cape Colony to the Philippines at the end of 1868, and on to New Zealand and Australia in early 1869. In late 1869 he is the West Indies, travelling back along the coasts of Spain and Malta, to Egypt in 1870. There are pictures from 1871–2 in the UK and Europe, then by 1873 he is in the Pacific South Seas, taking in Fiji and Samoa on the way to Australia and New Zealand, returning home via Cape Horn in Chile.

As well as documenting naval and other vessels at sea, Causton's pictures record interesting views of waterways as they were in the 19th century, including at Sydney Harbour, Kaffraria in Cape Colony, Barbados and St Vincent, the Suez Canal and Fijian canoes and bures (huts).

Later, in 1878, Commander Causton served on HMS London stationed at Zanzibar, an important instrument in the Royal Navy’s anti-slavery campaign along the East Coast of Africa.

By 1890 it appears that he had swapped global circumnavigation for the more stationary role of Divisional Officer of Coastguards at Ballycastle (now Northern Ireland). He is credited with founding the Ballycastle Golf Club, an indication perhaps of a more genteel lifestyle in older age.