Museum catalogue: Polar Art Collection

Cape Davis. Lat. 70.32.S Long.166.6.E.


Accession no.:	Y: 59/5/4
Title:	Cape Davis. Lat. 70.32.S Long.166.6.E.
Description:	Watercolour by John Edward Davis, second master of HMS Terror, during the British Antarctic Expedition 1839-43.
Medium:	Watercolour
Artist:	Davis, J.E.
Note:	Appears as an engraving in Sir James Clark Ross's 'A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, 1839-43' (London, 1847), vol 1, p. 252. Captain John Davis commanded Huron on the United States sealing voyage, 1820-22 and made the first documented landing of the Antarctic Peninsula on 7 February 1821, writing in his logbook 'I think this Southern Land to be a Continent'. It would appear that Davis had landed at Hughes Bay and this entry in his log is the first known reference to Antarctica as a continent written by someone who had actually seen the mainland. If this landing really did take place - and there seems little reason to doubt its authenticity - it predates Henryk Johan Bull’s landing at Cape Adare by 74 years.
Dimensions:	Image: Width: 265mm; height: 195mm Mount: Width: 405mm; height: 280mm