author

Christopher Langman

Best known as one of the voices behind a dramatic 1711 shipwreck narrative, this early maritime writer helped preserve a firsthand account of survival, conflict, and accusation at sea. His name is closely tied to the story of the Nottingham Galley, a voyage that ended in disaster off the New England coast.

1 Audiobook

A True Account of the Voyage of the Nottingham-Galley of London, John Dean Commander, from the River Thames to New-England

A True Account of the Voyage of the Nottingham-Galley of London, John Dean Commander, from the River Thames to New-England

by Christopher Langman, Nicholas Mellen, sailor on the Nottingham galley George White

About the author

Christopher Langman is known from the 1711 book A True Account of the Voyage of the Nottingham-Galley of London, written with Nicholas Mellen and George White. The work presents a firsthand-style account of the wreck of the Nottingham Galley on Boon Island in December 1710, and later editions and library records continue to credit Langman as one of its authors.

Available historical summaries describe Langman as the ship's first mate. After the crew returned to England, he was among those who signed a deposition and published a narrative accusing Captain John Deane of deliberately wrecking the ship for insurance money, which gives the book much of its tension and controversy.

Very little reliable biographical detail about Langman's life beyond this episode appears to be readily documented online. What survives most clearly is his place in a vivid piece of early eighteenth-century sea writing: part survival story, part grievance narrative, and part historical record of a notorious wreck.