Professional Documents
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Sigismond Bacstrom
Sigismond Bacstrom
1750-1805)
http://www.ramsdigital.com/author/Bacstrom.html
the admission of Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom, at age 44, into the fraternity of the
Rosicrucians by the Comte de Chazal, in the French colony of Mauritius in 1794
Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom, who gathered together an assortment of manuscripts from the
16th to the early 19th century, many of which he translated into English,
Waite humorously stated that he was not able to trace the eastern progress of the
brotherhood further than the Isle of Mauritius, where it is related in an odd manuscript
that a certain Comte De Chazal initiated Sigismond Bacstrom into the mysteries of the
Rose Cross Order in 1794, but nothing is known about the Comte De Chazal or his
character, and it is possible that Bacstrom might have been one of those persons who, in
all times and countries, have been willing to purchase problematical honors. Bacstrom's
manuscripts attained a new importance later, when they passed into the hands of
Frederick Hockley, an important figure in the revival of magic in the nineteenth century
in England and who was later concerned with a revival of the Rosicrucian society.
Selected Acquisitions Fall 2000 With a supplement on the Mellon bequest Compiled by
the Beinecke Library curatorial staff:
• Sigismund Bacstrom. Watercolor drawings made during a voyage around theworld,
1791-95. 63 original drawings, in various media (pencil, pen, ink,and watercolor). Most
of the drawings were made on the Northwest Coastand in Hawaii; they include pencil and
ink notations and are accompaniedby a 4-page manuscript[1]
bMS 677
Copy of the Admission of Sigismund Bacstrom into the Fraternity of Rosicrucians by the
Comte de Chazal, transcribed by Frederick Hockley, 1839.
Summary Information:
Call Number: bMS 677
Title: Sigismund Bacstrom. Copy of the Admission of Sigismund Bacstrom into the
Fraternity of Rosicrucians by the Comte de Chazal, 1839.
Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
Quantity: 1 volume
Administrative Information:
Preferred Citation: Sigismund Bacstrom, Admission into Fraternity of Rosicrucians, bMS
677, Andover-Harvard Library, Harvard Divinity School
Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Biographical Note:
Sigismund Bacstrom (c. 1750-1805), born in Scandinavia, was a physician, alchemist,
and Rosicrucian. He was initiated into the Societas Rosae Crucis by Comte Louis de
Chazal, an occultist and alchemist who Bacstrom met on the island of Mauritius during
his travels as a ship's surgeon. This meeting led to Bacstrom's interest in alchemy, and he
began to study it seriously, eventually translating many works on alchemy into English.
Bacstrom is the author of Bacstrom's Alchemical Anthology.
Scope and Content:
This volume is a copy of the admission of Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom into the fraternity of
the Rosicrucians by the Comte de Chazal, in the French colony of Mauritius in 1794. It
contains the original pledges made by Bacstrom. The volume is handwritten and
illustrated by Frederick Hockley, a well-known Rosicrucian.
MS. 22.
40 folios. 250x152mm. Late 18th Century. In English.
[Sigismund Bacstrom]
f6r-12v Copy of the Original Admission of Count de Chazal.
f14r-19r In the Name of cyhla hvhy the true and only God, manifest in trinity.
[Testimony of initiation of Alexander Tilloch into Bacstrom's Rosicrucian Society,
signed by Bacstrom and dated London April 5, 1797.]
22r-40v Aphorisms and Process. Aphorismi Operis Maximi Antiquorum Sapientium. [In
English.]
[Signed and dated at end]: "Above I have faithfully communicated our Aphorisms -
Sigismund Bacstrom M.D., F.R.C., London, 5 April 1797."
[The major collection of Bacstrom's manuscripts is in the Manly Palmer Hall collection
in the Philosophical Research Society, Los Angeles.]
[See MS. 320 Item 5, for a few folios which seem to relate to the 'Aphorisms and
Process'.]
For the men of modest means who usually took on the role of voyage naturalist,
patronage implied a high degree of material dependence. Anyone who leafs through the
Warren Dawson's calendar of Banks's correspondence (which summarizes from a large
sampling of the letters) will again and again encounter supplicants begging for money or
employment. Sigismund Bacstrom, MD, writes from London, June 28, that "since 1779
[he] has made six voyages as surgeon in merchant ships," seeks employment, and "asks
Banks to recommend him amongst his friends"; on August 18, 1791 he writes that he
hopes to join a world voyage; Banks "wishes him success, will pay him 6d. each for plant
specimens w-flowers or fruit"; on November 18, 1796, he has returned, describes his
adventures, and thanks Banks for his kindness to his wife during his absence.
In the summer of 1772, Sigismund Bacstrom, surgeon and naturalist, who, on this
occasion, acted
as secretary to Banks who had decided to commissioned a brig, the Sir Lawrence, and
sail for Iceland
via the Hebrides.
Sigismund Bacstrom a painter on one of the two British ships Butterworth and Three
Brothers near Langara Island shows blue-eyed Haida where the two Spanish priests
aboard Santiago had seen about eighteen years earlier. These sightings likely represent
the earliest know Metis in the Pacific Northwest.
"Some Processes" of Johan Gottfried Tugel's Experimental Chymistry etc. Leipzig 1766.
Translated from the German by: Sigismond Bacstrom, M.D. 1798.
"The Chemists Key of Henry Nollius." Published by Eugenius Philalethes, London, 1657.
S. Bacstrom M.D.
SHIP:
The ‘Harriet’ was a brigantine of 152 tons. She left London on 17 April 1879 bound for
the west coast of Africa with a crew of eight including the captain, William Pape. On 3
August 1879 the ‘Harriet’ sank at the mouth of the River Volta, the crew having been
taken off by a surf boat and landed at Addah.
HARRIET (1852)
The British ship HARRIET was built at Quebec in 1852. 935 tons net; 144 x 30 x 23 feet
(length/ breadth/depth of hold). 31 August 1853, re-registered at Teignmouth, Devon.
She is listed in the annual volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping for 1853/54-1857/58,
where her tonnage is given as 798/925 (old/new measurement).
Master:
1853/54-1855/56 - "Shaddick" [= Chadwick]
1856/57 - J. Seagrove
1857/58 - Lambeurd
Owner:
1853/54-1855/56 - G. Hennet
1856/57-1857/58 - Toulmin
Port of Registry:
1853/54-1855/56 - Teignmouth
1856/57-1857/58 - London
Port of Survey: London
Destined Voyage:
1853/54-1855/56 - Sydney
1856/57 - [not given]
1857/58 - Australia
Sources: National Archives of Canada, RG 42, Vol. 1407 (original Vol. 196 = microfilm
reel C-2062); Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1853/54-1857/58; Eileen Reid Marcil, The
Charley-Man; a history of wooden shipbuilding at Quebec, 1763-1893 (Kingston,
Ontario: Quarry Press, 1993). There may be additional information in Frederick William
Wallace, comp., Record of Canadian shipping; a list of squarerigged vessels, mainly 500
tons and over, built in the Eastern Provinces of British North America from the year 1786
to 1920 (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1929).
HARRIET (1839)
The Hamburg bark HARRIET was built at Bremen in 1839, and registered [Bielbrief] at
Hamburg 10 June 1839 to the Hamburg firm of Parish & Co. 146 Commerzlasten; 111,10
x 26,6 x 18,1 Hamburger Fuß (1 Hamburger Fuß = .28657 meter), length x beam x depth
of hold, zwischen den Steven.
Master:
1839-1847 - J. H. Hancker
Voyages:
1839-1841 - from Bremerhaven/intermediate ports/Havana
1841/42 - Valparaiso
1842/43 - Havana
1843 - Havana
1843-1845 - Valparaiso/intermediate ports/Manila
1845 - Cadiz/Bahia
1846 - Havana/Matanzas, Cuba
1846/47 - Cadiz/Rio de Janeiro
1847 - New Orleans15 October 1847, sold to Abraham Ewout van Dycke, Hamburg.
Masters:
1847-1849 - Abraham Ewout van Dycke (owner)
1849-1851 - J. T. Peters
1851-1853 - J. C. F. Janssen
Voyages:
1848-1851 - New Orleans/Rio de Janeiro/intermediate ports/New York/intermediate
ports/Amsterdam
1851-1853 - Valparaiso/Guayaquil/intermediate ports29 February 1853, sold to J.
Stürcken & Co, Hamburg.
Masters:
1854-1857 - J. P. Thode
1857-1860 - N. C. Pedersen
Voyages:
1854/55 - Buenos Aires/Singapore/Akyab
1855/56 - Newcastle upon Tyne/Manzanillo, Cuba
1856/57 - England/intermediate ports/Callao
1857-1860 - England/intermediate ports/Hong Kong/Macau1860, sold Norwegian (Capt.
Bie).
Source: Walter Kresse, ed., Seeschiffs-Verzeichnis der Hamburger Reedereien, 1824-
1888, Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, N. F., Bd. 5
(Hamburg: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, 1969), vol. 1, pp. 117 and 243; vol. 2,
p. 95.