William Crickmay was the purser of five Royal Mail Steam Packet Company ships from 1854 to 1858. These ships provided mail services from Southampton to St Thomas and Rio de Janeiro, and thence to local ports of call. His third ship, the Orinoco, chartered for war service, voyaged to and from Portsmouth to the Crimean war zone. After the war it returned to the St Thomas route. During Crickmay’s last voyage on it 27 people died of yellow fever. He very nearly joined them. After a long recovery period he made three more fever-plagued voyages before ending his seafaring career. He recorded his experiences in a series of diaries which have now been deposited at the National Maritime Museum. His broad experience gave him extensive knowledge of how the company operated. He established cordial relations with ships’ officers and crews, passengers, shippers, company administrators and agents, and government officials. His often terse diary entries contain important and reliable information about a significant part of the early steamship world.

中文翻译：

---

航海会计师的一些冒险：威廉·克里克梅和皇家邮政 Steam Packet 公司，1853 年至 1858 年

从 1854 年到 1858 年，威廉·克里克梅 (William Crickmay) 是五艘皇家邮政 Steam Packet 公司船只的乘务长。这些船只提供从南安普敦到圣托马斯和里约热内卢的邮件服务，然后再到当地停靠港口。他的第三艘船，奥里诺科号，租用作战服务，往返于朴茨茅斯和克里米亚战区。战争结束后，它又回到了圣托马斯路线。在克里克梅的最后一次航行中，有 27 人死于黄热病。他差点就加入了他们。经过漫长的恢复期后，他在结束航海生涯之前又进行了三次发烧的航行。他在一系列日记中记录了他的经历，这些日记现已存放在国家海事博物馆。他丰富的经验使他对公司的运作方式有了广泛的了解。他与船上的官员和船员、乘客、托运人、公司管理人员和代理人，以及政府官员。他经常简洁的日记条目包含有关早期轮船世界重要部分的重要而可靠的信息。