Lot Essay
Presumably preparatory drawings, after the original sketches by Back and Hood, for Edward Finden's engravings in Captain J. Franklin, Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819, 20,21 and 22, etc., I, London, 1823-8, pls. 16-19, 21, 22 and 24 (Abbey, Travel II, 635).
The search for a Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific begain in earnest with the release from duties of the Royal Navy at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. After the first voyages of discovery by Captain John Ross and Captain Parry in 1818-20, Franklin's sea and land expedition of 1819-22 counts amongst the earliest. Franklin was directed by H.M. Government to set out from the shores of Hudson's Bay by land, to explore the northern coast of America, from the mouth of the Coppermine River to the east. The expedition's aims were to find suitable harbours and anchorages for future expeditions and to chart the coast.
Franklin's fellow travellers included the Admiralty Midshipmen George Back and Robert Hood who were to assist in the observations and 'to make drawings of the land, of the natives, and of the various objects of natural history' (Captain J. Franklin, op. cit., p. xi). The expedition sailed from Gravesend on the Hudson Bay Company's Prince of Wales in May 1819, bound for York Factory, the principal establishment in Hudson's Bay. On arrival they set out on the journey of discovery, taking along wintering servants of the Hudson's Bay Company to act as guides, trappers and porters. Franklin described the departure on June 25 as they passed through Point Lake on the ice (see watercolour illustrated above): 'The wind having abated in the night, we prepared for starting at an early hour. The three canoes were mounted on sledges, and nine men were appointed to conduct them, having the assistance of two dogs to each canoe. The stores and provisions were distributed equally among the rest of our men, except a few articles which the Indians carried. The provision consisted of only two bags of pemmican, two of pounded meat, five of suet, and two small bundles of dried provision, together with fresh meat sufficient for supper at night. It was gratifying to witness the readiness with which our men prepared for and commenced a journey, which threatened to be so very laborious, as each of them had to drag upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds on his sledge. Mr. Back having chosen the moment of our setting off for sketching the annexed accurate and interesting picture of our mode of travelling on the ice, further description of it is unnecessary' (Captain J. Franklin, op. cit., p. 323).
One illustrated.
The search for a Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific begain in earnest with the release from duties of the Royal Navy at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. After the first voyages of discovery by Captain John Ross and Captain Parry in 1818-20, Franklin's sea and land expedition of 1819-22 counts amongst the earliest. Franklin was directed by H.M. Government to set out from the shores of Hudson's Bay by land, to explore the northern coast of America, from the mouth of the Coppermine River to the east. The expedition's aims were to find suitable harbours and anchorages for future expeditions and to chart the coast.
Franklin's fellow travellers included the Admiralty Midshipmen George Back and Robert Hood who were to assist in the observations and 'to make drawings of the land, of the natives, and of the various objects of natural history' (Captain J. Franklin, op. cit., p. xi). The expedition sailed from Gravesend on the Hudson Bay Company's Prince of Wales in May 1819, bound for York Factory, the principal establishment in Hudson's Bay. On arrival they set out on the journey of discovery, taking along wintering servants of the Hudson's Bay Company to act as guides, trappers and porters. Franklin described the departure on June 25 as they passed through Point Lake on the ice (see watercolour illustrated above): 'The wind having abated in the night, we prepared for starting at an early hour. The three canoes were mounted on sledges, and nine men were appointed to conduct them, having the assistance of two dogs to each canoe. The stores and provisions were distributed equally among the rest of our men, except a few articles which the Indians carried. The provision consisted of only two bags of pemmican, two of pounded meat, five of suet, and two small bundles of dried provision, together with fresh meat sufficient for supper at night. It was gratifying to witness the readiness with which our men prepared for and commenced a journey, which threatened to be so very laborious, as each of them had to drag upwards of one hundred and eighty pounds on his sledge. Mr. Back having chosen the moment of our setting off for sketching the annexed accurate and interesting picture of our mode of travelling on the ice, further description of it is unnecessary' (Captain J. Franklin, op. cit., p. 323).
One illustrated.