• Title
  Mrs Francis Stephen - letter received from John Edward Davis giving an account of a voyage by the British Antarctic Expedition from 23 November 1841 to 6 April 1842
• Creator
  Mrs Francis Stephen
• Call number
  SAFE/MLMSS 6729/Folder 1X (Safe 1/194)
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1842; transcribed 1999
• Type of material
  Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  99832
• Issue Copy
  Microfilm : CY 3991, frames 15 - 32
  
• Physical Description
  0.70 metres of textual material (1outsize folio) - 4 pages on 2 leaves, first page cross-written, with 4 drawings
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  The British Antarctic Expedition, 1839-1843, consisting of two naval vessels, H.M.S. Erebus and Terror, was led by Sir James Clark Ross who had discovered the North Magnetic Pole in 1831. Its main purpose was terrestial navigation. Over the course of the expedition, three separate voyages were made to the Antarctic during the summer months. On the first voyage the ice pack of what would later be named the Ross Sea was penetrated, and Victoria Land discovered. Between the first and second voyages the expedition called at Hobart, Sydney, and New Zealand, where further magnetic observations were made. On the second voyage, after sailing 800 miles through the pack ice of the Ross Sea, the ships reached their highest southern latitude of 78deg.10min.S on the 23 February 1842 - a record that would stand for almost sixty years.
  John Edward Davis joined the Royal Navy in 1828 at the age of thirteen. He was second master on H.M.S. Terror and responsible for drawing the fair charts from the surveys; he also made many drawings and watercolour sketches some of which were reproduced in Ross' published account of the expedition. He later rose to the rank of Staff Captain and became naval assistant to the Hydrographer; his Azimuth Tables were still in use well into the 20th century.
• Scope and Content
  Letter, dated May Day 1842, written on board H.M.S. Terror from the Falkland Islands and addressed to Mrs Francis Stephen, Adelaide Cottage, Wooloomaloo [sic], Sydney, NSW, in which Davis gives an account of the second voyage to the Antarctic from the time of sailing from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand on the 23 November 1841 until the arrival of the Expedition at the Falkland Islands on the 6 April 1842. He describes the course taken by the ships, the weather encountered, life on board ship (including the birth of three kittens to the ship's cat); there are particularly detailed descriptions of New Year celebrations - including a ball held on the ice at the Antarctic Circle, the gale of 19-20 January, during which both ships sustained damage among the pack ice, and the collision between the ships while endeavouring to avoid contact with enormous icebergs during a gale on the 13 March, and their subsequent narrow escape between two of the icebergs; illustrated with 4 drawings: (i) 'January 20th 1842' showing the Erebus and Terror among the ice during a gale; (ii) 'Off the Barrier Feby 23rd 1842 Latitude 78[degrees].10'S Longitude 161[degrees]W' - a panorama of the ice barrier; (iii) '"Tout ou Rien" February 28th/42' - Erebus sailing past ice bergs; (iv) Map showing position of the two ships when they collided and their passage between the icebergs, 13 March 1842 (Call No.: MLMSS 6729X: issue microfilm copy at CY 3991)
  1999; Typed transcription of Davis' letter by Stephen Martin (Call No.: MLMSS 6729/2 ; CY 3991)
• Finding Aids
  Transcript available online.
• General note
  
  Digital order no: Album ID : 823713
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Davis, John Edward, -approximately 1877
  
• Name
  British Antarctic Expedition (1839-1843)
  Erebus (Ship)
  Terror (Ship)
  
• Subject
  Antarctica--Discovery and exploration--British.
  
• Place
  Antarctica.
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE868086

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