2 Recollections of Adventures 



were prevented from returning to England in the 

 Autumn as intended, owing to circumstances over 

 which 7 had no control, and I was born on the 

 lower Rhine (where my father's yacht Fanny was 

 lying) on October 9th, 1840, and christened in the 

 old Cathedral of Rotterdam, Hendrik Wilhelm 

 Struben. All my brothers and sisters were born in 

 England, (with the exception of Fred, who was born 

 in Natal,) and were christened in the Church of 

 England. 



For some years we lived in Cowes, in the Isle of 

 Wight, my father was Consul for several nations, 

 he was a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 

 and owned a small yacht of 39 tons named Fanny 

 after our mother, (No. 40 of the Royal Thames Yacht 

 Club). As a boy I remember many pleasant sailings 

 round the Island, and on the South Coast and 

 occasionally trips were made to Holland to visit 

 relations. 



My father had for years voyaged to the East, 

 at one time in command of a small squadron of 

 vessels, employed by the Dutch East India Company, 

 for correcting the charts of the Straits of Malacca, 

 Sunda, round Borneo, the Chinese Seas, etc. He had 

 voyaged all over the world and led a most eventful 

 life. I have still the Cross for Valour he got for 

 carrying dispatches to the Citadel at great risk 

 during the siege of Antwerp, when only a Lieu- 

 tenant. 



He was twice shipwrecked, being once for 

 three days with eight others on a mast in the North 

 Sea, who all dropped off but one of his seamen and 

 himself, and both when picked up were nearly dead. 

 He never quite recovered from the effects of this 

 adventure. He was a friend of the first Rajah 

 Brooke of Sarawak, and subsequent to his marriage 



