Collection search - 1818 Buchan Arctic Expedition [graphic material]

Record information – Brief
1
1818 Buchan Arctic Expedition [graphic material]

Hierarchical level:

Series

Date:

1818.

Reference:

R3881-2-X-E

Type of material:

Art

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

4164706

Context of this record:

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George Back fonds

1818 Buchan Arctic Expedition
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Record information – Details

Series includes:

16 lower level description(s)
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Date(s):

1818.

Place of creation:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

Extent:

25 drawings: pencil, grey wash, watercolour; 15.7 x 24. 1 cm. (sheet size).
Image 15.800 x 24.000 cm

Language of material:

no language

Scope and content:

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A sketchbook of 14 folios, containing 25 drawings in pencil, grey wash, and watercolour, depicting the silhouettes of headlands passed by the expedition (Flamborough Head, Shetlands, Bear Island, etc.), the collision of the HMS Trent with pack ice, and some depictions of Arctic flora.

The 1818 Arctic expedition was lead by Commander David Buchan, R. N. and consisted of two ships, the HMS Dorothea and the HMS Trent. The latter was commanded by Lieutenant John Franklin, with one of his junior officers being Midshipman George Back. Buchan was provided with elaborate orders to find a passage through the ice at the North Pole and then to sail through Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean. After their two whaling ships had been strengthened, Buchan and Franklin left from the Thames on 25 April. Struggling through pack-ice most of the summer, the ships skirted the western and northern harbours of Spitsbergen, probing into channels wherever the ice parted. In July the vessels were jammed at 80°34 N, the most northerly point they were to reach. After three strenuous weeks of trying to free them, the expedition finally gained open water. The expedition then turned west towards Greenland, but a gale forced the vessels back into the ice at the edge of the field. Within four hours they were so badly damaged that the expedition had to be abandoned. After making repairs at a quiet harbour in Spitsbergen, Buchan again headed west, examining the pack-ice until the expedition was within 12 leagues of Greenland. When the weather threatened once more, he at last turned back and reached the Thames safely on 22 Oct. 1818. Although a route across the pole had not been found, many scientific, cartographic, and natural history observations were successfully carried out by specialists assigned to the ships.

See the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries for David Buchan, George Back, and John Franklin for more detailed information about this expedition.

Additional information:

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General note:

The sketchbook is made up of seven folded sheets (14 leaves including the cover), and is 15.8 x 24.0 cm. in diameter. It has been conserved.

Custodial history:

Acquired at Christies (London) Exploration and Travel auction of September 27, 1996, lot 130. Previous ownership probably through family descent.

Citation/reference note:

Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1997-280. Acquired with the assistance of a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Related material:

LAC also owns three finished watercolours by George Back from the 1818 expedition, which were acquired as part of the David Ives Bushnell Collection in 1981, all of which show the expedition fighting ice conditions in the Arctic. These are acc. no.s 1981-55-12, 1981-55-13, and 1981-55-14.

LAC also owns a sketchbook executed by Midshipman A. M. Skene who was on board the expdition commanded by Sir John Ross, also sent out by the Admiralty in 1818 to seek a Northwest Passage to the Orient. That expedition consisted of HMS Isabella and HMS Alexander. The Skene Fonds are described as R10448.

Subject heading:

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DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION - 1818

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

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1997-02027-0
1997-280 DAP
96-255
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Conditions of access:

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Graphic (art)

[Consultation90 Open]
No physical access without the assistance of an art archivist or custodian.

Box [1997-280] BK-327

[Consultation 90 Open]

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Copyright: expired

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Date modified:: 2024-07-04