JDH thanks his cousin William Gifford Palgrave, 'Giffy', for writing to him. He has written to Giffy's brother Francis Turner Palgrave, 'Frank', congratulating him on his scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, & hopes Giffy will have the same success. JDH speculates that they might visit Scotland together one day. JDH has been unable to get Giffy the walrus or elephant tusks he wanted. The only things of interest in the Antarctic Ocean are the penguins & some marine animals. The Ross Antarctic expedition will not be going south again. Though they did not reach the South Pole itself they have navigated further south than any other expedition. The Americans are particularly upset to have been outdone by a British expedition. JDH dismisses Commodore [Charles] Wilkes' account, published in the ATHENAEUM, which attempts to 'rewrite' the route of the Ross expedition as only reaching Balleny's Island not past Wilkes' land [United States Exploring Expedition 1838-1842]. JDH laments the fate of [Jules Dumont] d'Urville & his family [who died in a train crash in Versailles]. JDH thinks d'Urville was unprepared for the trials of travelling through ice. It is sealers who have elucidated the most Antarctic geography. The Americans have never found undiscovered land there, the French-found lands of Terre Adelie & Côte Clairi may only be ice attached to the land & the coast of Terre Louis Philippe was only named by the French having previously been chartered on maps by [James] Weddell & [Edward] Bransfield. The Russian Expedition [Captain Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, 1820] sailed round most of the Antarctic circle & detected the farthest known southern land in the form of the Islands Alexander & St Paul's. Sends regards to Giffy's brothers Reginald & Inglis, the latter of whom is intending to work for 'the Bank'.
Transcript
Pack, hanging probably on land. All the coasts of Terre Louis Philippe &c, were merely named, not discovered by the French; you will find them in Weddell's *8 & Bransfield's *9 charts. The Russian Expedition *10 performed what it had to do well; sailing round a great part of the Globe, within the Antarctic Circle & detecting the the little Islands of Alexander & St Paul's hitherto the farthest known Southernlands.
Inglis *11, I hear, is intended for the Bank, where I wish him all prosperity. Remember me affectionately to him & Reggie *12, & believe me, my dear Gifford, ever y[our] aff[ectiona]te Cousin Jos. D. Hooker
(Copy) *1
H.M.S. Erebus, Cape of Good Hope
April 28, 1843 (rec'd July 14)
To W[illiam] Gifford Palgrave, Esq. *2
My dear Giffy
Did I suppose you have forgotten me, which you suggest I may have done, depend upon it I should have written to you ere this time; however I am sure such is not the case, though this conviction does not diminish the pleasure I felt on receiving a proof of remembrance in your own handwriting.
I have written to Frank *3, congratulating him on his success in gaining the scholarship at Balliol College, Oxford, & I do hope that when your turn comes, you too may make an honorable march into the most honorable University in the world. By the time this note reaches England, you will probably be enjoying the mid summer Holy day & perhaps have time to write me an answer.
As to our going to Scotland, we may perhaps go there together at some future period, when you can render every place we see doubly interesting by telling me the history of its foundation or destruction; while I will talk Scotch for you, introduce you to the Highlands & keep you from being cheated by the Natives.
Not having been able to procure the Walrus or Elephant Tusks which you wished me to get for you, I do not know what you will think of our expedition. The whole Antarctic Ocean is very barren of any thing interesting, except the curious Birds called Penguins & some of the marine animals. You would enjoy yourself far better fishing for Pike & Eels in Irstead Broad, than in any employment whatever down to the Southward.
You will be glad to hear that we have, at last, fairly turned our backs on the South Pole; & though we have not been on the spot,
still our success has been greater than that of any preceding Navigators. The Americans judging by Commodore Wilkes *4 little pamphlet, seem very sore that their land has been sailed by us & ours; & poor Wilkes, in attempting to explain to (vid[e]. Athaeneum *5) gets more & more deep in the snow. From what is there stated, it would seem that he believes the land he laid down (in the chart sent by him to Capt. Ross *6 & now lying before me) is Balleny's Island; -- & that he has inserted it from Balleny's observations never having seen it himself; & thus that we sailed over Balleny's Island & not on land of his. But he forgets, -- what he puts down for the land we ran over is 2 degrees North of those Islands & a continuation of his own (according to the same chart). We passed Balleny's Island & sighted them in their proper place, a day before we sailed over Wilkes' Land. In fact, he appears to have forgotten what he had inserted in the chart which he had sent to Capt. Ross. Had the Athoneum [The Athenaeum] known this it could have explained the matter.
What a horrible fate was that of poor D'Urville *7 & his family! He was an old & a good Navigator; but evidently had no experience of ice & nor an idea of the protracted perseverance required to penetrate it to any distance. Our sealers are the men who have most contributed to elucidate the geography of the ocean & lands of the Antarctic Circle. Unfitted to resist the ice, ill mannered & often very short--handed, they discovered every inch of land in the South, except a few specks, seen by the French & Belgians. It now seems evident that the Americans never descried land, & the French only Terre Adelie. Côte clairi may be nothing but a
Pack, hanging probably on land. All the coasts of Terre Louis Philippe &c, were merely named, not discovered by the French; you will find them in Weddell's *8 & Bransfield's *9 charts. The Russian Expedition *10 performed what it had to do well; sailing round a great part of the Globe, within the Antarctic Circle & detecting the the little Islands of Alexander & St Paul's hitherto the farthest known Southernlands.
Inglis *11, I hear, is intended for the Bank, where I wish him all prosperity. Remember me affectionately to him & Reggie *12, & believe me, my dear Gifford, ever y[our] aff[ectiona]te Cousin Jos. D. Hooker
1. This letter is a contemporary 19th century copy, not written in the hand of the original author, Joseph Dalton Hooker, and not signed by him. The copy was probably made by Hooker's Mother or one of his sisters to be circulated amongst family and friends.
2. William Gifford Palgrave aka Giffy, 1826--1888, Jesuit priest, Arabic scholar, son of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. and Elizabeth Turner; cousin of Joseph Dalton Hooker.
3. Francis Turner Palgrave aka Frank, 1824--1897, British critic and poet, son of Sir Francis Palgrave, K.H. and Elizabeth Turner, cousin of Joseph Dalton Hooker.
4. Charles Wilkes, 1798--1877, American naval officer and explorer, led the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838--1842.
5. The Athenaeum, a literary magazine published in London from 1828--1921.
6. Sir James Clark Ross, 1800--1862, British naval officer and explorer, commander of the Antarctic Expedition, 1838--1843.
7. Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville, 1790--1842, French explorer, naval officer, botanist and cartographer. He and his family perished in the fire of the Versailles train crash in May of 1842.
8. James Weddell, 1787--1834, British sailor, navigator and seal hunter.
9. Edward Bransfield, 1785--1852, officer in the British Royal Navy, Antarctic explorer.
10. The Russian Expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen
discovered the continent of Antarctica in 1820.
11. Sir Robert Harry Inglis Palgrave, 1827--1919, British economist, joined bank of Deacon, Williams and Co. in 1843, son of Sir Francis Palgrave and Elizabeth Turner, cousin of Joseph Dalton Hooker.
12. Sir Reginald Francis Douce Palgrave, 1829--1904. Clerk of the British House of Commons, son of Sir Francis Palgrave and Elizabeth Turner, cousin of Joseph Dalton Hooker.
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