Batavia,
Christmas day 1852
Dear Mamma,

I suppose that you have heard before this that at last we are "Homeward bound" as the ship is going to Amsterdam and I am very glad at it for I am long ago tired of this trip and indeed a Sailors life in this life is not a very comfortable one. But more of this hereafter.

Since we left China I have been in Hong Kong and Singapore but the ship did not get freight until we came here. We are now taking in sugar rice and gutta percha? for Holland and will soon be loaded. This place belongs to the Dutch and there are very few English ships here. This town is very unhealthy but other parts of the Island are quite the opposite and the country is naturally very rich in spices and fruits. Well, Old Christmas has come around again and at the time I am scribbling this letter you I hope enjoying blissful repose r…eeding a day that I hope you will spend very happily and altho I am not near enough to wish you a Happy Christmas, may the new year be a happy one to all at home. I spent the last off the Cape of Good Hope and did not then think we should be so long out here but I believe that we are to call there on our return. I have not had any letters from you since we left Bombay, but suppose you did not know where to direct to as our movements were uncertain, but hope you got mine from china. I also hope that Grandma and all are in good health. Tis not easy to avoid disease here as tis very hot and it rains nearly every evening very heavy. I long for the clime that is neither too hot nor cold for perpetual summer is as bad as the …….. nights.

I met a sailor the name of McGowan from Ballybrannagh near Killough. He was returning from this to Sydney from which place he had come in an English ship wages £10 per month. I guessed from his accent he was from Co. Down and found I was correct. I seen a great many Belfast ships out here. There was one "The Matilda" here when we arrived tis easy to know them as they are nearly all painted the national colour. The Dutch soldiers and sailors do not look near as well as the British they … are dressed in blue with wide trousers hanging loosely about their stern, and pockets half way down the legs of their trousers, the latter are a little more shipshape. The natives who are Malays do not seem to like them much, and I would not be surprised to hear of the stars and stripes flying here before long as an American schooner was caught smuggling arms and powder along the coast, and an American Man of War is expected, to enquire into the affair.

I hear that cloth is a great deal cheaper in Holland than England so when I get there, if you approve of it, I will get some clothes which I will need to go home in if you can send me some cash. At present I have plenty for the passage altho my chest is a god deal lighter then when I left.

I suppose all my sisters are greatly grown by now as also Willy, Sam, and Georgy. Give my most affect love to them also Grandma, Dada, and Aunt, Mrs and Joe Surch and all my friends not forgetting Miss Lascelles, Mr West, MrGracey. And believe you me your affect son,

James C. Parkinson

PS there is very little to write about from aboard ship.