‘In this unpleasant situation we Tacked and cracked on all Sail, the Brig was with safety able to bear; The gales fresh with very heavy Squalls’ Edward Bransfield
Forgotten Irish Antarctic Explorer
Falkland’s/Las Malvinas Falkland’s/Las Malvinas
Cape Horn Falkland’s/Las Malvinas
Cape Horn
Drake Passage Falkland’s/Las Malvinas
Cape Horn
Drake Passage
Antarctic Peninsula Falkland’s/Las Malvinas
Cape Horn
Drake Passage
Antarctic Peninsula Elephant Island Bransfield Island Mount Bransfield Bransfield Strait Cork Harbour
1790 Edward Bransfield
Born c. 1785
Ballinacurra Co. Cork Bransfields in the Catholic Parish census
1842 Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815 View of Cork Harbour from Rostellan, near Ballinacurra 1809
Crawford Art Gallery Collection. HMS Dryad - Leinster Journal May 4th 1803 ‘Edward Bransfield 'Prest' on 2nd June 1803 Ville de Paris 110 Gun Ship of the Line Ville de Paris
110 Gun War Ship
837 Men 1803 Ville de Paris
Ordinary
Edward Bransfield Seaman 1804 Ville de Paris
Able Seaman Edward Bransfield 1808
Midshipman Edward Bransfield
HMS Royal Sovereign 1812 Edward Bransfield Master
HMS Goldfinch Edward Bransfield Master 1819 & Commander
Brig Williams August 27th 1816 – Bombardment of Algiers
HMS Severn “A very clever and attentive man” Captain F.W Aylmer (HMS Severn)
Honours list for the Battle of Algiers showing Edward Bransfield’s name With the return of peace the British Royal Navy dispensed with the services of an unprecedented 124,000 men.
By 1818, around 90% of commissioned officers were unemployed and on half pay. 18th August 1817
Transcript of a Letter by Edward Bransfield to the Admiralty wishing to test his method for calculating Longitude. 18th August 1817 ‘…if there is anything going Foreign or in time likely to go which is to be entrusted to the case of a Master that I may be appointed, or any vessel going on Discovery, I would be happy to offer my service……..’ 18th August 1817
‘Nautical Pursuits together with the dislike for an inactive life being the cause of my perseverance……..’ Hampshire Chronicle England October 6th 1817
Appointment to the Andromache Valparaiso 1830 William Smith and The ‘Williams’ William Smith 1819 William Smith discovers South Shetland Islands
• ‘Land was discovered, partly covered in snow’ • ‘Thick fog caused some danger’
• ‘ ‘dreary and inhospitable’
Extracts from William Smith’s Journal, about Antarctica, which he wrote in 1820 The Bransfield Expedition Dec 19th 1819 – 14th April 1820 Dutch published Map of the World 1595 Dutch published Map of the World 1595 1714 French published Map of the Southern Hemisphere Routes of some early explorers in Antarctic Waters 1720 - 1895 Captain James Cook 1772-74 Edward Bransfield’s Orders – 19th Dec. 1820
“...go on a voyage of discovery towards the South Pole.” Edward Bransfield’s Orders – 19th Dec. 1820 “…explore every harbour that you may discover, making correct Charts ….ascertain….whether [the land] is an island or part of a continent……” Edward Bransfield’s Orders – 19th Dec. 1820
If [the land] should already be inhabited you will minutely observe the Character, habits, dress, customs And state of civilisation of the Inhabitants to whom you will display every friendly disposition……..
Edward Bransfield’s Orders – 19th Dec. 1820 Should you touch in any foreign Port [on the way home] ….conceal every discovery you have made….. December 19th 1819 to April 16th 1820
Expedition Distance Sailed at least 7,000 mls/ 11,500 Km ‘Williams’ – 25 metres long Bransfield, Wm. Smith, 24 crew and 4 RN Officers The Journal Of Midshipman C. W. Poynter
Charles Poynter Journal Entry – 19th Dec. 1820
……..-Provisions got on board for Twelve Months, Ninety days Water, Four Bullocks — besides a great quantity of different kinds of livestock… Sextant Marine Thermometer And Barometer (1820) Marine Chronometer Sounding Lead & 220m Rope ‘Dec 9th …….. in the afternoon, we were suddenly caught in a heavy Squall which split our Square Mainsail, Fore Top-Gallant Sail Topmast Studdingsail and sprung the boom’ Distance Sailed in Antarctic waters with ice at least 3792 mls / 6,100 Km South Shetland Islands
Bransfield’s Chart of George’s Bay Charles Poynter Journal Entry -Christmas Day 1819 ‘The following being Christmas Day and having fair Weather without the least appearance of change, our People were indulged with Two Gallons of Liquor extra and in The evening we managed to muster a Fiddler among the crew who proved himself a tolerable scraper’ Antarctic Peninsula Charles Poynter Journal Entry 30thJanuary 1820 ‘….was discernible a high and rude range running in a NE and SW direction and centre of it bearing 6 or 7 Miles – a steep and roundish island about 5 miles distant SSW and a small circular island SSW1/2W – the whole of these formed a prospect not easily described’ Trinity Land Charles Poynter Journal Entry - 30thJanuary 1820
‘Our theme of conversation was the idea of ……. discovering the long-contested existence of a Southern Continent.’ Annual Antarctic Sea Ice Cover
Maximum Minimum
th MarchMarch 18th 18th 4 Feb
th 1616ththJanJan 27 Jan
30th Jan
23rd Feb The Natives ‘Our progress was completely arrested by These Gentlemen who with the most determined obstinacy disputed our right to proceed and it was not Until great slaughter had been committed and an opening forced through them with Lances, Seal clubs etc. we were enabled to further our research’ Charles Poynter Journal Entry ‘…for having been some time in a temperate climate they had contrived to get rid of their warm clothing for a lighter supply and when engaged on this Service [they] had not where-withall to repurchase so necessary a suit…’ Charles Poynter Journal Entry February 6th 1820 Valparaiso May 4th 1820 ‘…I beg leave to offer my services To finish it [the work] in the next season, being of the opinion that there is a great deal more to be done …’
Letter from Edward Bransfield to Captain Searle, Senior Officer on the Western Side of South America. Life after the Antarctic • Discharged from the Navy 18th Sept 1821 • ‘On call’ on half pay • Had to apply for leave to take jobs • Master or Captain on Four ships up to 1831 A Letter in his handwriting from 1839 following a query about his knowledge of James Weddell
…to pay the sum remaining in his possession to the surviving children of my brother William Bransfield in equal parts ---- Residing in the parish of Middleton, County of Cork Ireland Signed this 14th March 1851 Edward Bransfield
Antarctic Mainland Bransfield Rocks
Antarctic Mainland Bransfield Island
Antarctic Mainland Point Bransfield (later renamed Bransfield Island)
Named by James Clark Ross in 1842 Mount Bransfield
Antarctic Mainland
Dumont D’Urville 1837 -1840
‘This is why I named this mountain Bransfield, more to honour the memory of the only seaman who had been to these seas for science’ Antarctic Mainland Named in about 1825 by James Weddell Named in about 1825 by James Weddell
‘Mr. Edward Bransfield acted with great boldness in obtaining a knowledge of this land; but circumstances did not admit his extending or pursuing his observations, so to give a particular account of it.’ Whale Catcher Bransfield William Speirs Bruce Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 1902-04 ‘ I have today definitely found out that Edward Bransfield was an Irishman born about 5 miles from Midleton, Cork. So good old Ireland discovered the Antarctic Continent!
Bransfield House, Port Lockroy RRS Bransfield
Antarctic Shag
Phalacrocorax Atriceps bransfieldensis Why was he Forgotten? Too Good at His Job? • No Drama • No ship wreck • Didn’t Get Stuck in Ice • No one Died The Admiralty lost his Voyage log The harsh landscape and apart from seals and Whales few exploitable Resources found? Left no family to champion his memory and did not write a book on his exploits Quest for the Northwest Passage begins?
Sir John Ross (1777-1856): 1818 Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855): 1819-1820 Overshadowed By Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen? Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen? A piece in the Belfast Newsletter dated 20th October 1821:
) Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen?
“...the Russians did not see main ice until mid-February 1820, when they became the second expedition after Bransfield, now known to have seen the mainland.”
Bellingshausen and the Russian Antarctic Expedition, 1819–21 by R. Bulkeley, published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2014 Map of the Antarctic 1898 Map of the Antarctic 1898 Remembering Edward Bransfield
Monument unveiled in his home town of Ballinacurra, Co. Cork on the 25th January 2020
Bransfield CommemorativeTartan Thank You ! www.rememberingedwardbransfield.ie