A Lady’s Cruise in a French Man-of-War

Book excerpt: In spring of 1875, after Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon becomes the first governor of Fiji, C.F. Gordon-Cumming, a British woman, accepts an invitation to travel to Fiji as part of Lady Gordon's party. Told from her own viewpoint, Gordon-Cumming writes about her time spent in Fiji where she falls in love with the isles. At the end of two years, Monseigneur Elloi, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Samoa, invites Gordon-Cumming on a mission to visit parts of his diocese located in more than half of the South Seas. She delightedly accepts this unique and exceptional opportunity and prepares for the cruise of a lifetime. Written in a series of journalistic letters to Lady Gordon, Elisa, and her sister, Nell, Gordon-Cumming writes about her experiences on the cruise in a French man-of-war, the Seignelay.