Coleridge sails for the Mediterranean aboard the Speedwell

Background. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian, a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. His ill-health and opium-addiction problems are documented in connection with his later 1807–1808 travels, when he journeyed to Malta, Sicily, and mainland Italy hoping that leaving Britain's damp climate would improve his health and enable him to reduce his opium consumption.

Departure from Portsmouth. A legacy row records that Coleridge sailed from Portsmouth aboard the Speedwell on 4 April 1804, but no supplied passage confirms the date, the port, or the vessel, so these details remain unverified. Portsmouth is a port city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England, whose history traces to Roman times and which has contained a significant Royal Navy dockyard and base for centuries. The supplied passages confirm only that Coleridge traveled to Sicily and Malta in 1804.

Service in Malta. In 1804, Coleridge worked for a time as Acting Public Secretary of Malta under the Civil Commissioner, Alexander Ball, a task he performed successfully. He gave this up and returned to England in 1806.