author
John Atkins
1685–1757
An English naval surgeon who turned long voyages and hard-earned medical experience into vivid travel writing, he left behind one of the more striking firsthand accounts of the Atlantic world in the early 1700s. His books mix sea adventure, observation, and the attitudes of his age, making them fascinating and sometimes challenging to read today.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Trained as a surgeon's apprentice, he entered naval service early and built his career aboard Royal Navy ships. His experience included major naval actions and voyages along the coast of West Africa and across the Atlantic, where he observed diseases, shipboard life, and the people and places he encountered.
He is best known as the author of A Voyage to Guinea, Brasil, and the West-Indies (1735), a travel narrative drawn from those journeys. He also wrote on medicine, including observations on tropical illness and surgery, and his work is still noted by historians for its firsthand detail.
Like many writers of the eighteenth century, he reflected ideas and prejudices that modern readers may find troubling. Even so, his books remain valuable as records of naval medicine, early travel writing, and Britain’s expanding involvement in the Atlantic world.