The diary, kept for a single calendar year by the chaplain on the Galleon Leicester, chronicles the initial attempt to establish a spice trade in the Moluccas. It also records contemporary London and Oxford, the slow start to thevoyage with visits to and from persons interested in the enterprise. The last seven months recount developing tensions and rivalries on the voyage, the long sojourn at Sierra Leone, and an account of the passage to Sao Vicente, Brazil, where they encountered three Spanish ships.