Sir John Narbrough,

could be called a 17th century David Attenborough,

only now just found the maps and the rest of Sir John's handwritten journal provide an extraordinary insight into life on board his ship H.M.S. Sweepstakes, they detail everything from wind speed to gold deposits ('Here is much gold in this land'), encounters with pirates, local flora and fauna ('We saw several sea fowls and ducks, both white and pied'), the diet of his crew (oranges and lemons, mostly) and the living conditions of the natives,

more than 300 years after Sir John finally put his quill pen down, the journal - a tatty looking brown book held together with white tape - was discovered languishing with the family papers of the Earls of Romney at the Centre for Kentish Studies, Peter Barber, head of map collections at the British Library, said, 'For decades it had been sitting in a box in the wrong place - no historian would have thought to look for it there, and the Centre for Kentish Studies were only interested in documents related to Kent, so why has Sir John's tatty old journal caused such a stir? After all, while we've all heard of Sir Francis Drake and Captain Cook, who conquered the oceans a century either side of him, Sir John Narbrough is hardly a household name,

'Quite simply, because no one knew about him and his journal was never seen,' says Peter. 'So he was dismissed as an unimportant figure, He was the first British sailor to navigate the treacherous Straits of Magellan - a shortcut around Cape Horn - opening the way for British trade in the Pacific and the fabulous wealth that went with it.'

this must be a fascinating insight to our great naval history, funds are being made available for the journal so it can stay in Great Britain, I have said it before, I wonder what other treasures are waiting in cupboards and attics to be discovered?