Elderkin, a mariner of Providence, Rhode Island, kept a journal while on a voyage on board the Ship Eliza from Providence to Canton, China. He described the ceremony on board when the ship crossed the equator, the hazards of rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and visiting harbors in Mauritius and Java. In Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia), the ship was loaded with opium, which they then carried to Canton (now Guangzhou). In Canton, Elderkin listed the other American ships in the harbor, before his return voyage.
