The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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Robert Knox, Captain (8 Feb 1641 - 19 Jun 1720)

Sea captain for the East India Company and son of a sea captain of the same name. With his father, Knox was forced ashore on Ceylon by a storm on 19 November 1659 en route to Persia. They and sixteen of their crew were taken captive by the King of Kandy. The elder died in 1661, but the younger Robert spent nineteen years of captivity in relative freedom, exploring the island. After escaping, he arrived home in London in September 1680 and with the Company's encouragement published an account of his experiences and observations as An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon (1681). Robert Hooke took an interest in Knox and his travels and “helped him to shape the text” for publication (Willes, 213). In turn, Knox shared his experiences, including a sampling of a new "intoxicating herb," cannabis (Willes, 214). Knox also became a source of objects for the Royal Society:
Hooke recognized how useful Knox’s eye for detail could prove for the Royal Society as part of ongoing investigations into peoples, cultures and trades. When the Governor of the EIC, Sir Josiah Child, commissioned Knox to undertake an expedition to Vietnam and Java to collect a cargo of pepper, Hooke took the opportunity to request that he gather interesting specimens for the Society. Knox more than fulfilled his brief, returning in 1683 with a substantial collection of exotic curiosities" (Willes, 213).
Birch reports that at a meeting of the Royal Society on 21 November 1683, Hook presented a list of curiosities "brought by Captain Robert Knox from Tunquin, upon the main of China [i.e. Vietnam]" (vol. 4, p. 226 and following).
 Other biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Knox_(sailor) Source of object(s)
 Relevant locations: Lived at or near London, England
Lived at or near Sri Lanka, Asia
Lived at or near Tonquin, Vietnam
 Relationships: Robert Knox was a employed by East India Company (1600-)
Robert Knox was a friend of Robert Hooke (18 Jul 1635-3 Mar 1703)
Robert Knox was a source of object(s) for Royal Society (-)

 Linked print sources: as Mentions or references - The Curious World of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn.
as Mentions or references - The History of the Royal Society of London for Improving of Natural Knowledge ... In which the most considerable of those papers communicated to the Society, which have hitherto not been published, are inserted in their proper order, as a supplement to the Philosophical Transactions .
 References in Documents: