[[1]] Copy *1
H.M.S. Erebus
Berkeley's Sound, Falkland Isl[an]ds
April 26. 1842
My dear Mrs [Mary] Boott,*2
Although I have never yet had the honor of being a correspondent of yours, still I feel
so indebted to Dr.B[oott]*3 & yourself for many marks of attention, that I flatter myself
you will not refuse a letter from me. My father, in his many communications, always
mentions your family & he has especially told me how much we all owe to Dr.B[oott]
on poor Mary's account. She, poor girl, in the last letter I will ever receive from her,
says, Dr. Booth "wrote in my album, called me Dear Mary, & enquired much after
you."
You are aware of the circumstances under which I attached myself to this expedition:
my friends can best tell how far it has been for my own good. In joining it, much has
been sacrificed for the sake of belonging to such an enterprise, without perhaps an
adequate return in Botany. I have, however, been far more comfortable than it was
reasonable to expect & indeed more so than I ever did expect: nowhere could I have
enjoyed better health; my time, too, is easily employed, & Captain Ross most kindly
allows me the use of his cabin, whenever, & for as long as I please:-- my mess
mates are very agreeable; the mess comfortable (whenever there is anything to eat)
& our private cabins, though small, are light & airy. This is not, however, all,
[[2]] sailors must, if they be Englishmen, have something to grumble at, & so we do
bitterly complain of not having yet received any news from England, though we have
been here nearly a month, nor seen a newspaper, much less any despatches or
letters, although these are doubtless waiting to be sent down to us, from Rio. Three
weeks have elapsed since our arrival at this Port, & although there is not a tree on
the face of the country & scarce a shrub house to be seen, still, such is the
difference between the sea & shore, that we all enjoy it with great relish.
Ever since the discovery of these islands they have been the scene of much
confusion & often bloodshed: & as is often the case with objects of dispute, they do
not really appear much worth quarrelling for. Our own government has now sent out
Lieut[enant]. Moodie*4 (of the engineers) with a small body of sappers & miners, to
take the command of & to report upon the state of the land, previous to colonizing it.
The soil appears tolerably good & produces an abundance of rich grass, upon which
cattle grow very fat & increase fast. It is handsome, growing from 5 to 7 feet high,
always near the sea & most frequently on the little islands in the Sound & the
habours, covering the peaty waste with a densely green vegetation. Where cattle
can procure this grass, they will touch nothing else & with horses it is the same.
Lieut.[enant] Moodie is very anxious to have it introduced into the Western coast of
Ireland & on the Hebrides, where,
[[3]] should it succeed, it will prove of immense value. Wild fowl are here immensely
abundant & especially Geese; so tame that in many cases they may be knocked
down with sticks, and they are equal, in size & flavor, to any London fowl. The
particulars of our first cruize[sic] to the ice, you have doubtless collected from the
public papers, though we ourselves have heard nothing of the reception which the
news met with in England. Our last cruise has been different, in many respects: the
weather was, by no means, so favourable & we met with much more ice than before.
Still however, we reached a higher south latitude by a few miles, & had the satisfaction,
(or disappointment), of being brought up by nothing less formidable than the Barrier,
which no one, in all human probability, will ever surmount. On leaving the Bay of
Islands, (Nov 23rd) it was Capt. Ross' intention to have crossed over from the
Eastern extremity of the Barrier, to Weddell's track, & then to have steered north for
the Falkland Islands. The season was so late when we reached the Barrier, that we
had to get back by the same track as we came in.
The first objects that hail us on entering these cold climates are stupendous
icebergs, of shapes very different from the Northern ones, being generally tabular &
flat--topped & incomparably larger, from which a keen cold wind blows. Then we
begin to clothe ourselves warmer & the crows nest is got up at the fore topmast
head, for the look out man. The first Berg we made was in 58 1/2 south & 146 west
Long.[itude]
[[4]] In these latitudes we had hard winds, with such dense fogs & snow storms, that
we had to fire guns & beat gongs at short intervals, for fear of parting company with
the "Terror." Immediately before making the pack ice, (the second era in a southern
voyage,) the beautiful White Petril, is seen, which never leaves the pack--ice, but is
very abundant near it. The bird has jet--black feet & bill, & all the crest is ivory--white:
its size is that of a small pigeon. On the 18th of Dec, we entered the pack running
through openings to the southward. After running & beating, for about 200 miles, we
found ourselves caught, & it was not until the 2nd of Feb[ruar]y that we emerged at
its southern edge. A great part of this time, including a merry Christmas week, was
spent in quiet--ness & inaction, the ice being so heavy all round, that the ships were
made fast, to one to each side of a small floe, to keep the pressure off them, when an
uninterrupted communication was established between the two ships. At Lat[itude].
68,° S[outh] -- Long[itude] 178 W[est], we cleared the pack, which took a turn & ran
to the southward & westward, & stretching as far as Lat [itude]. 70° S[outh] &
Long[itude]. 170° W[est] it terminated in sharp point, & then turned to the east &
southward. It was hard & heavy the whole way, with many Bergs near it & in it. From
foul winds, it was not until Feb[ruar]y 11.th that we rounded the point, & still coasting
along the same track, traced it down to the Barrier, where we arrived on Feb[ruar]y
23.d & in the evening went about in Lat[itide] 78°,.9'-- Lat[itude] 161° . 27' ,-- a little to
the eastward
[[5]] of where we had been in the January & Feb[ruar]y of the previous year. We
were then amongst much young ice, which covered the sea in small round cases,
called Pancake Ice. For once, the afternoon was splendid, & the reflection of the
sun's rays, when setting upon the smooth water, the Bergs & the Barrier, was most
splendid. We thus added about 100 more miles to this stupendous wall of ice, which
stretched away, farther than you could reach on the horizon, to the eastward &
westward, its surface is raised in long undulating low hills of snow, which abut on the
sea in steep cliffs, where huge masses break off by the heavy swells & become ice
bergs, & are drifted about, probably for ages, increasing in height from the falls of
snow in both summer & winter; for here there are no genial months, to melt such
enormous accumulations of frozen water. It is only by slowly drifting to the northward
& coming into warmer water, that these ice bergs finally dissolve. By keeping more to
the westward in proceeding north, we avoided any pack ice, & on reaching the
lat[itude] of 60°, we commenced running down our longitude, & after rounding Cape
Horn, we arrived here on April 5th, the same day as that on which we reached Hobart
Town last year. How long we shall [illeg.] remain at the Falklands I cannot say: but
next year we go again to the south, in Weddell's track; for the sake of proving the M.
D'Urville's*5 Packs & Barriers are quite
[[6]] previous, & also to wipe away the stigma which he has attached to the name of
poor Weddell, by saying that a "English sailor pretends to have reached lat[itude],
74°". After this we shall go to the Cape & then bear up for Old England.
We now are daily expecting to hear from England: & through my father's letters I
trust to know your family are in health. To Dr Boott, Miss B, Frank & the rest, I beg
you to present my kind compliments & tell the former that I have 4 species of Carex.
from this Island & several new ones from New Zealand.
(signed) J.D.Hooker.
(Joseph says that the grass, mentioned above, is "probably Sprengel's Carex trifida."
ENDNOTES
1. This letter is a copy written in a hand not that of the original author, JDH. The
copy was probably made by JDH's mother or sister so that a version could be
circulated amongst family and friends.
2. Mrs Mary Boott nee Hardcastle (1794/5--1850). Daughter of the botanist Lucy
Hardcastle who may have been an illegitimate child of Erasmus Darwin. Married in
1820 to Francis Boott a practicing doctor and botanist who published a monograph
on the genus Carex.
3. Dr Francis Boott (1792--1863). American doctor and botanist who lived in England
from 1820. His botanical studies were confined to the Genus Carex. His monograph
of 158 species of Carex was printed in Sir William Jackson Hooker's Flora BorealiAmericana. Fellow and sometime Treasurer and Secretary of the Linnean Society.
4. Richard Clement Moody (1813--1887). Colonel in the Royal engineers. British
Governor of the Falkland Islands from 1841-1849.
5. Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (1790 -- 1842).French explorer, naval
officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and
Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer he left his mark, giving his name to
several seaweeds, plants and shrubs, and places such as D'Urville Island.
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