HMS Briton and HMS Tagus off Pitcairn’s Island, by John Bolton Woodthorp

SV/369

fonds

1814

Graphic Materials, Watercolours

9663819

1 watercolour - 25 x 36 cm

John Bolton Woodthorp, also spelled Woodthorpe, (1796-1846), joined the Royal Navy in September 1809 as a Midshipman. He sailed on the 'Druid' and 'Endymion' commanded by his cousin Sir William Bolton, before serving on the 'Briton' until 1815. He continued to serve in various ships reaching the rank of Captain upon his retirement in 1842.

In 1790, nine of the mutineers from the Bounty, along with a group of Tahitian men and women settled on Pitcairn Island. In 1808 the American sealing ship Topaz, under Mayhew Folger, became the first ship to visit the island since the mutiny. Six years later a Royal Navy flotilla of two ships Briton and Tagus commanded by Sir Thomas Staines arrived at the island. He sent a party ashore and wrote a detailed report for the Admiralty. By then, only one mutineer, Alexander Smith now known as John Adams, remained alive.

The watercolour by Woodthorp shows the two ships as they approached the island, which had been unexpectedly sighted because its longitude had previously been inaccurately recorded.

John Shillibeer, a lieutenant of Marines on the 'Briton', interviewed John Adams and published an account of the voyage which was illustrated by 18 etchings from drawings he made on the spot.

References:
Maggs Bros. The travel department: highlights for the 2022 California Book Fairs. London, Maggs Bros, [2022]
O'Byrne, William Richard. A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Woodthorpe, John Bolton. Accessed 5 May 2022. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Naval_Biographical_Dictionary/Woodthorpe,_John_Bolton

Purchased by the vendor from an auction in England in 2021. The consignor was an English collector of material relating to William Bligh and the mutiny on the Bounty.

Watercolour depicting the ships HMS Briton and HMS Tagus as they approach Pitcairn Island on 17 September 1814.

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Title devised by cataloguer

Removed from frame, 2022

Signed below caption, lower right: "J.B. Woodthorp - facit'
Caption below image in artist’s hand, "His Majesty’s Ship’s Briton, 38 guns, Sir Thos Harris KCB & KCF Captain; and Tagus, 36 guns, P. Pipon Esq Captain. Off Pitcairn’s Island. Latitude 25.3 South Longitude 130, 24 West. This Island is inhabited by the Descendants of the Mutineers of the Bounty Sloop of War, who settled on it AD -1788. Vide Shillibeers Narrative of Briton Voyage-September 17th, 1814."
In pencil, in different hand, on reverse of frame, "Orig. watercolour, by Woodthorp, 1814'.
Typescript label on reverse of frame, "Douglas Kenyon Inc. Framers of fine art ... 230 East Ohio Street, Chicago, Illinois ..."