Sketches of H.M.S. Challenger Voyage Around the World, 1872-1874 / B. Shephard

PXA 7268

fonds

1872-1874

Cartographic Materials, Drawings

9657088

1 sketchbook - 240mm x 320mm - ink, watercolour

Benjamin Shephard (1841-1887) joined the service in 1862 at the age of 20. He was assigned to H.M.S. Challenger on November 15, 1872, as Cooper, at the age of 31. He was promoted and demoted a number of times from Cooper to Coopers’ Crew. The Challenger returned to England in May,1876, and Shephard was transferred to H.M.S. Pembroke on June 12, 1876. Later Shephard served on H.M.S. Penelope (August,1876 to March,1879), H.M.S. Pembroke again (March to October,1879), H.M.S. Cornus (October,1879 to March,1884), back to H.M.S. Pembroke (March,1884 to January,1885), H.M.S. Tyne (January,1885 to June,1887) and finally H.M.S. Nelson. He transferred from H.M.S. Tyne to H.M.S. Nelson on June 20, 1887, at Albany, Western Australia, where he died.
Reference: Library correspondence file

Inscribed by William Gurling, H.M.S. Challenger, Sydney. It is not known how he obtained the sketchbook from Shephard. Nor is it known how it travelled to the USA, where it was discovered in 1968, in a Boston bookstore by J. Welles Henderson. It was sold in 2008 by Bourgeault-Horan Antiquarians, August 16, 2008, lot 1049. It was put on the market by Donald A. Heald Rare Books in New York, and offered to the Library by Hordern House Sydney in 2020 with Donald Heald as the consignor of the album.

Oblong quarto sketchbook, 1872-1874, consisting of thirty-five ink and watercolour drawings (being one illustrated title page and 34 illustrated pages) by Benjamin Shephard. Illustrations made on the first leg of the H.M.S. Challenger expedition around the world, from Gibraltar on January 26,1873, until the completion of her voyage in the Antarctic in February,1874.
Shephard depicted scenes of the Challenger at various ports of call, including leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 19th, 1873; in a gale, at St Michael's; twice at St Vincent; three times at St Paul's Rocks and once at Fernando Noronha; off the island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic; at Inaccessible Island and at Nightingale Island; at Simons Bay and Table Bay; at the Cape of Good Hope, and then a series of views towards the Antarctic including Marion Island, the Crozet Islands in the south-western Indian Ocean and three at Kerguelen Island. From March,1874 the Challlenger sailed north-eastward away from Antarctica, reaching Melbourne in late March,1874. The journey from Melbourne to Sydney followed in April,1874.

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

Challenger sketchbook

Inscribed the front wrapper verso: “William Gurling. H.M.S. Challenger. Sydney. Australia.”