James WEDDELL ⁷⁹³

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• He worked as a Navigator, sealer in 1787 in Ostend. ⁷⁹³ JAMES WEDDELL


Early life

Born in Ostend, Weddell's father was a Presbyterian upholsterer from Dalserf in Scotland who had settled in London and married Sarah Pease, a member of a famous English Quaker family. At the time of James' birth, 1787, his father was in poor health and died a short time later. In order to provide money for the family, James' elder brother, Charles Weddell, joined the Royal Navy.

James, aged nine, joined him as boy, first class, on the Swan, but discharged himself six months later. Charles eventually settled in the West Indies, dying in 1818.

James entered the merchant service and was apparently bound to the master of a Newcastle collier for some years. About 1805 he shipped on board a merchantman trading to the West Indies, making several voyages there. However, charged with striking his tyrannical captain, he was handed over to the frigate Rainbow as a prisoner, guilty of insubordination and mutiny.
In Jamaica Weddell once again volunteered for service in the Royal Navy and in December 1810 was appointed master of the Firefly. In December 1811 he was moved to the Thalia, and on her return to England and being paid off he was promoted on 21.10.12 as master of the Hope. He was aboard the Hope when in 1813 in the English Channel she captured the True Blooded Yankee, an American privateer. A few months later Weddell was moved to a brig Avon. The Avon was paid off in March 1814 and Weddell was appointed to the Espoir sloop, sailing to the West Indies and Nova Scotia, from which he was promoted to the Cyndus frigate and later to the Pactolus. With the end of the Napoleonic War he was laid off on half pay in February 1816, and for a while resumed merchant voyages to the West Indies.

First Voyage to the Antarctic

In 1819 Weddell was introduced to James Strachan, a shipbuilder of Leith, who together with James Mitchell, a London insurance broker, owned the 160-ton brig Jane, an American-built ship taken during the War of 1812 and re-fitted for sealing. News of the discovery of the South Shetland Islands by William Smith had just broken, and Weddell suggested to Strachan that fortunes might be made in the new sealing grounds. In particular, Weddell was interested in rediscovering the mythical 'Aurora Islands', said to lie to the east of Cape Horn at 53ºS, 48ºW. The islands had been reported in 1762 by the Spanish ship Aurora while sailing from Lima to Cádiz, and then again in 1794 by the corvette Atrevida, which had been sent to find them. Details of Weddell's first voyage are fragmentary; he arrived with the Jane in the Falkland Islands and wintered there from 1819 to 1820, collecting hydrographical information in the Falklands and the surrounding islands. The Jane carried chronometers, a luxury beyond the reach of most sealers, and it is known that these were rated at Staten Island on 27.1.20 before Weddell's vain search for the Aurora Islands. A few days later Weddell, his holds full, left the southern seas for the voyage back to England. He carried letters from other sealers, notably from the Liverpool ship George, which had taken 9,000 seals; and was the first to report the shipwreck of four sealers: the American Clothier (wrecked at Blythe Bay on the north coast of Livingstone Island), and the British Hannah, Lady Troubridge (Captain Richard Sherrat), and Ann.

Second Voyage to the Antarctic

Weddell's first voyage showed a handsome profit for Strachan and Mitchell - enough for them to purchase a second smaller vessel, the 65-ton Beaufoy. In September 1821 the Jane, commanded by Weddel, and the Beaufoy, commanded by the Scot, Michael McCleod, left the Thames, and by August 1821 were at Madeira, where stores were taken on board. After calling at the Cape Verde Islands for salt the two vessels arrived at New Island, in the Falklands. There Weddell encountered Charles H. Barnard, commander and owner of the brig Charity, who had been marooned on the Falklands for two years, 1812-14. It was perhaps at Weddell's prompting that Barnard was to write an account of his experiences (1829).

The Jane, Beaufoy, and Charity then sailed for the South Shetlands, arriving late in October 1821. By that time, 45 American and British sealers were in the area and seals were becoming scarce. The three vessels therefore separated to scout for new grounds. On 11.12.21, when 240 miles to the east of Elephant Island, McCleod in the Beaufoy sighted land further to the east - the South Orkney Islands, discovered quite independently four days earlier by George Powell in the company of Nathaniel Brown Palmer. The three captains rendezvoused at Yankee Harbour, on Greenwich Island on 22.12.21, and in February 1822 Weddell, with the Jane, sailed for the South Orkneys where seals were taken and some survey work carried out. The Beaufoy sailed directly to South Georgia, where she was joined later by the Jane. The two vessels sailed for England at the end of March 1822 and arrived in the Thames in July.

Third Voyage to the Antarctic

The next few months were spent frantically re-supplying the Jane and Beaufoy for a third voyage to the Antarctic. Although the major purpose was for sealing, Weddell now had instructions that if no seals were found he should 'prosecute a search beyond the track of former navigators'. This appealed immensely to Weddell, who was more an explorer than a sealer, and the ships were duly equipped with three chronometers, compasses, barometers, thermometers, logbooks, charts, and the new steel pens and graphite pencils. Weddell commanded the Jane, with 22 crew, while the Beaufoy, with 13 men, was given to Matthew Brisbane (c.1787-1833), a Scotsman from a seafaring family.
The two ships sailed from the Thames on 13.9.22, and after entering the Atlantic separated: the Jane steering for Madeira, and the Beaufoy for the Cape Verde Islands. By 14.10.22 both ships were off Bonavista in the Cape Verdes. After taking on supplies they sailed on 20.10.22 and crossed the equator on 7.11.22. During the crossing the Jane developed a serious leak, requiring an anchorage to be found on the coast of Patagonia. After searching around the Valdes Peninsula (10.12.22), a harbour was found at Port St Elena on 19.12.22. While repairs on the Jane were being carried out the Beaufoy went sealing along the Patagonian coast. By 1.1.23 the two vessels were in company again, midway between the Patagonian coast and South America, where they searched for an island, the 'Aigle Reef', which had been reported by a variety of navigators, particularly Captain Bristow in 1819, and the whaler captain Robert Poole, of the Aigle. Finding nothing, they arrived off the South Orkney Islands on 12.1.23, anchoring between Saddle Island and Melville Island (= Laurie Island). Sealing proved disappointing, so the two ships headed south, and by 27.1.23 had reached 64º58'S. Weddell, wanting to make use of the long periods of daylight, then turned north to look for land between the South Orkneys and South Sandwich Islands, and on 1.1.23 was at 58º50'S.

Weddell was now convinced that nothing new remained to be discovered in those latitudes, and that he should search further to the south. Following the 40ºW line of latitude, the two ships reached 66ºS on 10.2.23, and a week later at 71º10'S were rapidly approaching the furthest south penetrated by any ship in the Southern Ocean. The season was unusually mild and tranquil, and 'not a particle of ice of any description was to be seen'. By 17.2.23 the two ships had reached 74º34'S, 30º12'W. A few icebergs were sighted but there was still no sight of land, leading Weddell to theorize that the sea continued as far as the South Pole. Another two days' sailing would have brought him to Coats Land but, to the disappointment of the crew, Weddell decided to turn back. The region would not be visited again until 1911, when Wilhelm Filchner discovered the ice shelf which now bears his name.

Weddell returned north roughly along the 40º line of latitude, passed by the South Orkneys and sheltered at South Georgia, where he and his crews searched for the elusive seal. On 17.4.23 they sailed from South Georgia bound for the Falklands, and on 11.5.23 anchored off New Island. After wintering at the Falklands the two ships sailed on 7.10.23 for the South Shetlands. They survived a ferocious hurricane but were prevented from approaching the islands by thick pack ice, and on 18.11.23 Weddell turned west to search for seals around Cape Horn. On 23.11.23 the Jane and Beaufoy dropped anchor in Wigwam Cove, ten miles north of Cape Horn, and during December made another fruitless attempt to reach the South Shetlands, still locked in ice.

In the first week of 1824 the two ships separated: Brisbane and the Beaufoy stayed in Tierra del Fuego until 20.1.24; Weddell cruised the Patagonian coast as far as the Santa Cruz River, then returned to the Falklands on 2.3.24. Seventeen days later Weddell sailed for Patagonia to rendezvous with Brisbane, but by that time the Beaufoy had set off on the homeward voyage and was to arrive in the Thames on 20.6.24. Weddell encountered severe storms, and a leak in the Jane forced him to put in at Montevideo. Repairs completed, the Jane sailed from the Río de la Plata on 4.5.24 and reached the Thames on 9.7.24. His record for a southerly voyage, three degrees beyond that of Cook, caused some raised eyebrows. Rather than confronting the Admiralty with numerous charts and records, Weddell was persuaded by Strachan and Mitchell to incorporate everything in a book, thereby adding credence to his discoveries. The first edition appeared in 1825. In August 1824 Brisbane sailed the Beaufoy from the Thames for a return voyage to Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falklands, with particular instructions to revisit the Fuegian islanders they had encountered two years earlier. Brisbane returned to England on 14.4.26 and Weddell added a short account of the voyage, mainly concerning the Fuegians, to the second, enlarged edition of his book published in 1827.

Later life

In 1826 Weddell offered his services to the Admiralty with a proposal for a return voyage to the high southern latitudes, either in command of an expedition sponsored entirely by the Admiralty, or in ships of his own with the costs defrayed by the Government. The proposal failed to meet the approval of John Barrow, and was turned down. Instead, Weddell returned to trading along the warmer Atlantic coasts. In 1829 he was still master of the Jane, but on a passage from Buenos Aires to Gibraltar the Jane leaked so badly that on arrival at Horta, in the Azores, she was condemned and allowed to founder. Weddell and his cargo were transferred to another ship for the passage to England, but this ran aground on the island of Pico, and Weddell survived only by lashing himself to a rock.

The loss of the Jane meant financial ruin for Weddell, who was forced to take paid employment as a ship's master. In September 1830 he left England as master of the Eliza, bound for the Swan River Colony, Western Australia. From there he proceeded to Hobart, Tasmania, where in May 1831 he assisted John Biscoe in landing his scurvy-afflicted crew from the Tula. Weddell sailed for England in the Eliza in January 1832 and arrived in the Thames six months later.

In London he took up lodgings at 16 Norfolk Street, where he resided in relative poverty and obscurity, apparently supported by a Miss Rosanna Johnstone. He died in September 1834 at the age of forty-seven and was buried in the churchyard of St Clement Danes.

Selected References

Weddell, James, A voyage towards the South Pole performed in the years 1822-24. Containing an examination of the Antarctic Sea, to the seventy-fourth degree of latitude; and a visit to Tierra del Fuego, with a particular account of the inhabitants. To which is added, much useful information on the coasting navigation of Cape Horn, and the adjacent lands (London, 1825; 2nd edn [enlarged], London, 1827; reprinted, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971).

Balch, Edwin Swift, Antarctica (Philadelphia, 1902 [a thoroughly researched work assessing for the first time a large number of fragmentary primary sources]).

Barnard, Charles H., A narrative of the sufferings and adventures of Capt. Charles H. Barnard, in a voyage round the world, during the years 1812… 1816… (New York 1829; New York 1836).

Gurney, Alan, Below the convergence: voyages towards Antarctica 1699-1839 (London, 1997, 1998 [devotes over 60 pages to Weddell's voyages]).

This article was written in January 2002 by Ray Howgego ([email protected] <mailto:([email protected]>) and may be freely copied or reproduced without permission, although some sort of acknowledgement would be appreciated.

• James Weddell joined the Navy in 1796 and by 1815 had risen to the rank of Master earning him high marks from his superiors in the process. In 1819 he joined the Merchant Service and was introduced to a shipwright named James Strachan who, along with several other partners, owned a 160 ton brig. Weddell persuaded Strachan to give him command of the ship for a sealing expedition to the newly discovered South Shetland Islands. Even though Weddell was new to sealing, Strachen went along with the plans due to Weddells Antarctic training while in the Navy. Little is known about this voyage other than Weddell actually visited the group as well as the South Orkney Islands recently found by Powell and Palmer. Weddell returned in 1821 but it was an unprofitable venture due to insufficient cargo.

The following year a second voyage was planned, again primarily for sealing, but this time it was agreed that Weddell would attempt to search beyond those efforts of earlier sealers. On September 17, 1822 the JANE, manned by 22 men along with the 65 ton BEAUFOY, with 13 men under the command of Matthew Brisbane, departed from England.


Due to the inadequate size of the ships, along with poor provisions, the task ahead was a formidable one indeed. Between 1820 and 1822 no less than six sealing vessels had shipwrecked in the South Shetlands. The JANE, in particular, received significant damage to her planking and stem due to the severe weather. There was plenty of rum for the sailors (3 glasses a day), but the food was inadequately supplied from the onset. Rations had to be halved while wintering in the Falkland Islands and scurvy was a constant threat although only one crewman died.

Weddell was an explorer at heart. The accuracy of his observations and the charts prepared of the South Orkneys proved he was a man who admired accuracy and despised the wild and unsubstantiated claims made by some of the earlier explorers. Even though there were tremendous problems confronted by the expedition, Weddell, much like Cook before him, was a great leader of men. The men were cheerful and willing to work despite all the hardships.

After stopping at Madeira and Bona Vista, Weddell crossed the equator on November 7 and sailed on to the Falkland Islands for repairs arriving on December 19. On December 30, both ships sailed south and reached the eastern end of the South Orkneys on January 13, 1823. Finding few seals Weddell decided to search further south. Slowly the two vessels made their way south experiencing difficulties with fog and icebergs along the way. By January 27, Weddell turned north once again as, after all, he was to hunt for seals and thus far his cargo hold was essentially empty. Hoping to find land between the South Orkneys and South Shetlands, Weddell sailed to within 100 miles of Sandwich Land where he came close enough to Cook's route to know he would not find land where he had hoped to. It was on February 4 that Weddell decided to head south once again. Brisbane bravely agreed and in the dark and foggy weather the two ships began their historic journey.

Both crews suffered from the intense cold and fog. Weddell did what he could for them but the small ships were constantly battered by the gales which kept them in a perpetual state of dampness. The weather eventually cleared and at noon on February 20 Weddell determined his position to be some 214 miles further south than Cook had achieved. The weather was now extraordinarily clear and mild. Four icebergs were sighted but there was no land in sight. Due to the lateness of the season, along with Weddell's possible doubts of there being any land at the pole, Weddell took advantage of the favorable winds and headed north. The crew was naturally disappointed in his decision but Weddell gave a speech to the crew praising their efforts and congratulating them on penetrating further south than anyone before them. Weddell named the waters King George IV's Sea. After sheltering at South Georgia and wintering at the Falklands, the ships sailed for the South Shetlands in October 1823. They were struck by a violent hurricane and upon reaching the islands they discovered a thick ice pack surrounding them so on the 18th of November, Weddell turned to the west to search for seals around Cape Horn. Both ships eventually returned to England in July 1824.

It is sad to note that no other ship has successfully sailed the same route as Weddell to substantiate his claim but there seems to be no reason to disbelieve him. It was a record southing that would not be broken until Wilhelm Filchner succeeded nearly 100 years later in 1911.
Weddell continued as Master of various trading vessels, but in 1829 was wrecked in the Azores and was only saved by lashing himself to a rock. His last voyage was to New South Wales and Tasmania in 1830-32. He died in London in relative poverty at the age of 47.

• James Weddell was an English captain working for the sealing company Enderby Brothers. The Enderby family did much to further Antarctic exploration, funding several Antarctic expeditions with as much interest in their new discoveries as in the commercial exploitation of the region. Their whaling ships had been active in the region since the late 18th century. Charles Enderby became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830, the year of its foundation, and from this time forward Enderby skippers combined exploration with whale and seal hunting.

On 4th February 1822, while off Sandwich Land, Weddell sailed south to look for fresh sealing coasts. By 18th February he and his crew had reached 73° South. Unusually for this region, Weddell recorded " not a particle of ice of any description was to be seen ". Weddell named this sea King George IV Sea, but it was renamed in 1900 in honour of its discoverer. Penetration this far south remained unmatched until Shackletons voyage of 1914-16.

• 1739 Jean Bouvet (France) finds Bouvet Island.
1772-75 James Cook (Britain) circumnavigates Antarctica.
1819 William Smith (Britain) discovers South Shetland Islands.
1820 William Smith and Edward Bransfield (Britain) believed to be first to sight Antarctic mainland.
1821-22 Nathaniel Brown Palmer (U.S.) explores Palmer (now Antarctic) Peninsula.
1823 James Weddell (Britain) discovers Weddell Sea.
1838-42 Charles Wilkes (U.S.) discovers Wilkes Land; proves Antarctica a continent.
1839 John Balleny (Britain) discovers Balleny Island and Sabrina Coast.
1839-43 James Clark Ross (Britain) discovers Ross Sea, Ross Ice Shelf, and Victoria Land.
1895 Leonard Kristensen and C.E. Borchgrevink (Norway) first to land on continent (Cape Adare).
1897-99 Adrian de Gerlache (Belgium) heads first party to winter in Antarctic (in Bellingshausen Sea).
1901-3 Erich von Drygalski (Germany), in the Gauss, discovers Wilhelm II Coast.
1901-4 Robert F. Scott (Britain) spends three winters in first land exploration.
1903-5, 1908-10 Jean B. Charcot (France) surveys Palmer Peninsula; finds Charcot Island.
1908-9 Ernest Shackleton (Britain) finds Beardmore Glacier; goes 97 miles near pole. Edgeworth David, Douglas Mawson locate south magnetic pole.
1911 Roald Amundsen (Norway) first to reach South Pole.
1911-14 Douglas Mawson (Australia) explores Adélie Coast; finds Shackleton Ice Shelf, Queen Mary Coast.
1912 Robert F. Scott (Britain) reaches South Pole January 18 but perishes on return trip.
1928-30 Richard E. Byrd (U.S.), first to fly over South Pole (Nov. 29, 1929); builds Little America base on Bay of Whales.
1929 George Hubert Wilkins (Australia) proves Charcot Island an island.
1929 -31 Douglas Mawson (Australia) charts 300 miles of coast; claims Enderby Land for Australia.
1929-33 Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen (Norway) makes three expeditions; discovers areas in Queen Maud Land.
1933-35 Richard E. Byrd (U.S.) makes second expedition.
1935-36 Lincoln Ellsworth (U.S.) explores by air, claims 300,000 square miles (Ellsworth Highland) for U.S.
1938-39 Lincoln Ellsworth (U.S.), air expedition; claims 80,000 square miles (American Highland) for U.S.
1939-41 Richard E. Byrd (U.S.), third expedition; maps a large area south of Pacific Ocean.
1946-47 Richard E. Byrd (U.S.), fourth expedition; with Richard H. Cruzen lead Navy Operation High Jump; flies over South Pole again Feb. 16, 1947.
1947-48 Finn Ronne (U.S.) surveys coast southwest of Weddell Sea.
1948 Australia builds first permanent observation stations.
1955-56 Twelve nations set up bases for study during Inter-national Geophysical Year, 1957-58. A United States Navy airplane makes first landing at South Pole.
1957-58 Sir Vivian Fuchs (Britain) first to cross Antarctica by land.
1961 Icebreaker Glacier (U.S.) makes deepest penetration of Antarctica by sea.
1963 Southern Heritage Range of Ellsworth Highland found to be pure white marble.
1990 Six-man international expedition completes a 221-day, 3,700-mile trek across Antarctica, from west to east, using dogsleds.
1993 Erling Kagge of Norway travels 810 miles across Antarctica on foot alone to the South Pole.

• 1819 - 1822
Weddell's sealing expeditions
Captain Cook's failure to sight land during his circumnavigation of Antarctica discouraged further exploration for years but there were other reasons for travel than exploration. Many sealers and whalers were encouraged by Cooks reports of large numbers of seals and whales. These hunters would go on to catalogue large parts of the Southern Ocean and discover almost a third of the subantarctic islands.

The Scotsman James Weddell captained two sealing voyages in 1819 and 1822. On his second journey to the South Shetland Islands he discovered an archipelago he called the South Orkney Islands. By January 1823 he reached the southern point of these islands and landed on Saddle Island. Here he killed and skinned six seals of an unknown type, now referred to as the Weddell seal. In February he penetrated a vast sea of ice and reached a record latitude of 740 15' south, He named the sea after King George IV, but this century it was renamed the Weddell Sea.

• James Weddell (1787-1834) ventured to the Antarctic in the brig Jane on three occasions between 1819 and 1824, setting a 'furthest south' of 74 deg 15 ' S on the 20th of February 1823. He authored one of the early classic Antarctic books, A Voyage Towards the South Pole in the Years 1822-24 (1825), the second edition of which (1827) is usually preferred because of the additional material included. He died in poverty at age 47 and is buried in the northwest corner of the churchyard of London's St Clement Danes, Strand. (Dr Johnson was a regular member of this congregation--seat no 18--although in modern times its strongest association is with the RAF.) A.G.E. Jones writes that "if ever there was a gravestone, wind and weather have removed the inscription." (164) Visiting the church in January 1998 I searched in vain for any evidence of Weddell's grave. The Verger said that with street widenings and reconstruction over the years the churchyard had long ago been obliterated. Some gravestones had been used for paving, but no sign of Weddell's.
At the time of his death he was living at 16 Norfolk Street, just south of the church. [Fairly recently the street was swallowed up by a new superblock development.] At other times while ashore he could be found at Barr Street (apparently also no longer existing) near the Tower, and 8 South Hanover Street, Edinburgh. (165)
There's a small oil portrait of Weddell on display at the Scott Polar Research Institute (008); and the Royal Geographical Society has in its collections a posthumous portrait of Weddell painted by Peake in 1839 and presented by John Barrow)(084) while its sister society in Scotland has one done by P. G. Dodd (042). The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has, according to A.G.E. Jones, "a copper seal made for Weddell's private use" that features an illustration of the Jane and Beaufoy at the furthest South.(051)
Weddell presented to the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh the skin of a seal. Still in its possession, it is of the species now named for this pioneering Antarctic explorer.(246)

An update of Episode 42 (posted as Episode 46b):
In Episode 42, I stated that James "Weddell presented to the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh the skin of a seal." That seal is what we know today as the Weddell Seal. I can't seem to locate my source for this and after some e-mailing back and forth to Scotland, I think I've worked it out: The seal skin (and skull) resides not at the RCS but at the Royal Museum of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Museum) which is a division of the National Museums of Scotland, located at Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF (http://www.nms.ac.uk/). (My thanks to Miss A.M. Stevenson of the Royal College of Surgeons and Andrew Kitchener of the Royal Museum of Scotland.)
By the way, the skin and skull are shown on page 91 of Antarctica: Great Stories from the Frozen Continent, (Readers Digest,c1985). And here's what Alan Gurney says about it all in his engaging book, Below the Convergence (NY: W.W. Norton, 1997): "Today the skin of that seal killed in the South Orkneys described by Jameson and destined to become the type specimen for Leptonychotes weddelli rests in the basement of Edinburgh's Royal Scottish Museum, wrapped in plastic. The skull crushed by the sealer's club, sits in a cardboard box. The skin itself is still in remarkably good condition and shows the needle holes suggesting that the specimen was at one time stuffed and on display." (246)