Abstract
On 23 December 1674, Major William Puckle – an agent of the English East India Company – was issued a commission and extensive instructions from Company House in London for travel aboard the ship Bombay Merchant heading to Fort St. George in the Bay of Bengal. Engaging with sources like Puckle’s diary therefore demands focusing not only on the embedded narrative which Puckle has created, but also seeking out the ‘voices’ which might be gleaned from the wider emotional discourses surrounding Mechilipatnam and the East India Company’s gaze more broadly. A close analysis of Puckle’s diary within these wider discourses surrounding East India Company legitimacy and authority necessarily demands reading the document as an emotionally laden text with specific emotive purposes. The emotional topography of Puckle’s diary is remarkable from the outset, with the landscape of its entries elevated and flattened in accordance with its author’s priorities.
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