Editing Openai/69334603-e204-8007-8688-c342412e0714 (section)

=== Assistant: Short answer: as far as the evidence goes, no, the ship’s captain’s own diary has not been published – but a different … ===
Short answer: as far as the evidence goes, no, the ship’s captain’s own diary has not been published – but a different diary from the same voyage ''has'' been published and is often what people are referring to.

===== - The ship that took Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe into exile was HMS ''Cornwallis'', commanded by Captain O’Brien (often written O’Brian/O'Brien). Sunday Times<ref>{{cite web|title=Sunday Times|url=https://www.sundaytimes.lk/141228/plus/a-royal-invitation-to-supper-on-board-the-hms-cornwallis-128642.html|publisher=Sunday Times|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref> =====
* The British official in charge of escorting the deposed king from Colombo to India was William Granville, a young civil servant. Manchester Hive<ref>{{cite web|title=Manchester Hive|url=https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526113429/9781526113429.00006.xml?print=&result=55&rskey=4MJEdB|publisher=Manchester Hive|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref>
* Granville kept a diary of the voyage, and modern historians explicitly say that “Granville’s diary recounts the voyage” and use it as a primary source. Manchester Hive<ref>{{cite web|title=Manchester Hive|url=https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526113429/9781526113429.00006.xml?print=&result=55&rskey=4MJEdB|publisher=Manchester Hive|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref>

According to the entry on William Granville, his diary of the voyage with Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was published in 1830, together with a small collection of his poems (Poems on Ceylon). Wikipedia<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikipedia|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Granville_%28civil_servant%29|publisher=en.wikipedia.org|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref>

More recently:
* A Sri Lankan edition/translation has appeared: - Grantha.lk advertises a book essentially described as Granville’s journal/diary of the exile of Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, noting that the original journal is valuable but long out of print, and that this new edition (with Sinhala translation) is being brought out many decades later. grantha.lk<ref>{{cite web|title=grantha.lk|url=https://grantha.lk/cartquickpro/catalog_product/view/id/17663|publisher=grantha.lk|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref> - A 2025 blog post lists “Granville’s Diary: on the exile of Sri Vickrama Rajasinha, with its Sinhala translation” by N. T. Senevipala (Samanthie Publishers, Ja-Ela, ISBN 978-624-201-075-5). vijayadharani.blogspot.com<ref>{{cite web|title=vijayadharani.blogspot.com|url=https://vijayadharani.blogspot.com/|publisher=vijayadharani.blogspot.com|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref>

So there is a published diary from the voyage, but it belongs to William Granville, the escorting civil servant, not the captain.

===== For Captain O’Brien himself: =====
'' Histories and articles on Sri Vikrama Rajasinha’s exile mention HMS ''Cornwallis* and Captain O’Brien, and even later events in O’Brien’s naval career and court martial. westendlhs.co.uk<ref>{{cite web|title=westendlhs.co.uk|url=https://www.westendlhs.co.uk/app/download/32169840/WESTENDER%2BSEPTEMBER%2B-%2BOCTOBER%2B2019.pdf|publisher=westendlhs.co.uk|access-date=2025-12-05}}</ref>
* However, none of the credible sources I could find mention a published “Captain O’Brien’s diary” or a separately printed log of the voyage relating to the king.

The ship’s log would certainly have existed as an official Royal Navy document, but that’s different from a personal diary and is not, as far as current references show, available as a popularly published book.

===== : =====
* There is no evidence that a diary by the captain (O’Brien) himself has been published or is known under his name.
* The published diary closely tied to this voyage is William Granville’s diary, not the captain’s. That diary was published in English in 1830 and has a modern Sinhala + English edition from Samanthie Publishers.

If you’re interested in reading an eyewitness account of the voyage, what you want to look for is:

: 

That’s the closest real-world counterpart to “the captain’s diary of the ship that transported Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe.”