Lot Essay
In a frame inscribed 'THIS FRAME IS MADE FROM THE REMAINS OF THE RUDDER OF THE TERROR.'
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H.M. Ships Erebus and Terror, January 20th 1842, in Latitude 66°.37' South, Longitude 159°.48' West
Details
Captain John Edward Davis, R.N. (1815-1877)
H.M. Ships Erebus and Terror, January 20th 1842, in Latitude 66°.37' South, Longitude 159°.48' West
signed and dated 'J.E. Davis 1842' (lower left), inscribed as titled beneath the subject
black, white and red chalks on brown paper
7¼ x 10.1/8in. (18.4 x 25.8cm.)
H.M. Ships Erebus and Terror, January 20th 1842, in Latitude 66°.37' South, Longitude 159°.48' West
signed and dated 'J.E. Davis 1842' (lower left), inscribed as titled beneath the subject
black, white and red chalks on brown paper
7¼ x 10.1/8in. (18.4 x 25.8cm.)
Engraved
by T. Picken in Capt. Sir J.C. Ross, A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, during the years 1839-43, London, 1847, I, facing p. 169.
Davis was Second Master on Commander Crozier's Terror and a number of his drawings (probably the first ever of the Antarctic continent) were used by Ross to illustrate his official account of his voyage published in two volumes in London in 1847. James Clark Ross had reached the northern magnetic Pole in 1831 and was charged by the Government, following the recommendation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society, to lead an expedition to investigate terrestrial magnetism in the southern latitudes.
The expedition was the first British exploration of the southern latitudes since Cook's skirting of the Antarctic circle in 1773-4 and the sealer Weddell's furthest south of 74° 15'S in 1823. Bellinghausen had probably been the first to sight the Antarctic continent in January 1820 and Dumont d'Urville then discovered Adelie Land and Claire Coast. Their work towards the discovery of an Antarctic landmass was consolidated by James Clark Ross who penetrated the pack ice in January 1841 sailing into the clear water of the unknown Ross Sea and sighting snow-covered land on 11 January, thereby becoming the first to discover a sea route to the continent. McCormick on the Erebus saw and named an active volcano (Mt. Erebus) and Ross was the first to see and chart the South Polar Barrier which he named Victoria Barrier and which was later named the Ross Ice Barrier. He made two further navigations of the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea before returning to England in 1843.
The present drawing by Davis records an incident on their second season in the Ross Sea, when a storm badly damaged both the Erebus and Terror, the latter's rudder being broken to pieces by the ice and having to be replaced by the spare rudder: 'On the morning of the 20th it blew a heavy gale of wind; there we were in the midst of very heavy ice with a very heavy swell on. The ship at times striking hard, it was very difficult to pass clear of the largest pieces which threatened at times to crush us...we were afraid for our bowsprit, it being so low, but we experienced a greater loss in our rudder which was broken and rendered useless at ten in the forenoon. A tongue of ice got under it and completely ground it round, splitting it all the way up...' (Capt. J.E. Davis, R.N., A Letter from the Antarctic, London, 1901, pp. 17-18, with a sketch after the present drawing illustrated p. 20).
The Erebus and Terror weathered the storm and on 4 February the ships continued southwards. The ships found greater fame when they were taken by Franklin to the Arctic in 1845 (see lot 143), never to be seen again.
Davis was Second Master on Commander Crozier's Terror and a number of his drawings (probably the first ever of the Antarctic continent) were used by Ross to illustrate his official account of his voyage published in two volumes in London in 1847. James Clark Ross had reached the northern magnetic Pole in 1831 and was charged by the Government, following the recommendation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society, to lead an expedition to investigate terrestrial magnetism in the southern latitudes.
The expedition was the first British exploration of the southern latitudes since Cook's skirting of the Antarctic circle in 1773-4 and the sealer Weddell's furthest south of 74° 15'S in 1823. Bellinghausen had probably been the first to sight the Antarctic continent in January 1820 and Dumont d'Urville then discovered Adelie Land and Claire Coast. Their work towards the discovery of an Antarctic landmass was consolidated by James Clark Ross who penetrated the pack ice in January 1841 sailing into the clear water of the unknown Ross Sea and sighting snow-covered land on 11 January, thereby becoming the first to discover a sea route to the continent. McCormick on the Erebus saw and named an active volcano (Mt. Erebus) and Ross was the first to see and chart the South Polar Barrier which he named Victoria Barrier and which was later named the Ross Ice Barrier. He made two further navigations of the Ross Sea and Weddell Sea before returning to England in 1843.
The present drawing by Davis records an incident on their second season in the Ross Sea, when a storm badly damaged both the Erebus and Terror, the latter's rudder being broken to pieces by the ice and having to be replaced by the spare rudder: 'On the morning of the 20th it blew a heavy gale of wind; there we were in the midst of very heavy ice with a very heavy swell on. The ship at times striking hard, it was very difficult to pass clear of the largest pieces which threatened at times to crush us...we were afraid for our bowsprit, it being so low, but we experienced a greater loss in our rudder which was broken and rendered useless at ten in the forenoon. A tongue of ice got under it and completely ground it round, splitting it all the way up...' (Capt. J.E. Davis, R.N., A Letter from the Antarctic, London, 1901, pp. 17-18, with a sketch after the present drawing illustrated p. 20).
The Erebus and Terror weathered the storm and on 4 February the ships continued southwards. The ships found greater fame when they were taken by Franklin to the Arctic in 1845 (see lot 143), never to be seen again.