Fitzjames wasn’t unique in sketching the sights and surroundings on his travels, many other Naval officers did this.
Nevertheless, he was quite the talented artist, as these drawings will show.
The Porcelain Tower at Nanking, China 1842
As published in The Chinese Repository, volume 13, 1844 ©Google
Fitzjames describes the visit to the Porcelain Tower in his Voyage of the HMS Cornwallis poem, in Canto the Eight:
The sight which we all thought most worthy of note
Is the famed ‘“Porcelain tower,” to which I devote
A few lines.—With the base ’tis nine stories in height,
And I never beheld a more beautiful sight
Than the sun setting on it—’twas like burnished gold;
For the bricks glisten bright, though three hundred years old,
And their colours dark green, but each story is faced
With bricks of fine white, and real porcelain most chaste!
It has eight equal sides, four of which have a door
To a balcony leading—a railing before;
In each of the chambers of which there are nine
Are hundreds of josses. In the ground floor a fine
Large one sits cross-legged on a stone table,
The small ones in rows placed wherever they’re able;
All China is covered with little gilt josses,
Which answer the purpose of Catholic’s crosses;
(Though I once knew a Puseyite parson who swore
They don’t bow down to them, but only before.)
To each story a roof turned up at the edges,
With a bell at each corner—the whole of the ledges
And tiles on the roofs are bright yellow, which shine
In the sun,—the effect being gorgeous and fine,
On the top of the roof is a long iron spire
Surrounded with hoops—and mounting still higher,
Is a large golden ball in the shape of a pear,
With the narrow end up, pointing into the air.
The height from this ball to below in the street,
Is exactly two hundred and sixty-one feet,
From the top is obtained a most beautiful view
Of the mountains, the suburbs, the river, and through
The whole of the city. An abbot resides
In a house near the tower,—the old fellow prides
Himself on the neatness with which it is ae
And made a complaint that some sailors had crept
Outside on the roof, and with true English taste
Had broken the bricks, and a whole side laid waste;
This might have been true, but we tried hard to see
Where the damage was done by these men’s thoughtless spree,
I really believe that some English barbarians
Did take some bricks, but these were “Tractarians”
(As parsons are now called,) and soldiers to boot,
And doctors all ready as sailors to loot;
Some persons asserted, that taking the mean,
T’was not soldier nor tar, but a jolly marine.
However though every one said “who’d have thought it,”
I’ve got a fine brick, from the abbot—I bought it.
The Arctic Expedition leaving Stromness, 3 June 1845, 9am
Picture credit ©Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
At the top of the paper Fitzjames wrote: “The Arctic Expedition leaving Stromness, 3d June 1845, 9 am”
Underneath are the names: Terror / Old Man of Hoy / Erebus / Rattler
The Old Man of Hoy is a 449-foot sea stack on Hoy, part of the Orkney archipelago off the north coast of Scotland. Formed from Old Red Sandstone, it is one of the tallest stacks in the United Kingdom.
In the lower right corner he wrote: “Blazer towing the transport Baretto junior, 4 miles whence[?]” and sketched the ships.
The Arctic Expedition at Whale Fish Island, near Disko, 8 July 1845
Picture credit ©Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
In the upper right corner Fitzjames wrote: “The Arctic Expedition at Whale Fish Island, near Disko, 8th July 1845”
The Scott Polar Research Institute has a note accompanying the sketch: “Note, on scrap of paper: ‘This sketch, by Captain James Fitzjames, HMS Erebus, was sent home from Greenland, with his last letters, to Lady Franklin’.”
Sir John Franklin wrote to his wife Lady Jane on 7 July 1845:
“Monday 7 July: […] I yesterday saw Fitzjames making a sketch of the harbour, of which he intends sending you a copy.
[…]
I had written thus far when Mr. Gore brought me in the sketch of our present anchorage for you, taken from the opposite side to that by Captain Fitzjames. The two ships together are the Erebus and transport, and the single one the Terror. It is a correct representation of the land and of our position. Almost immediately afterwards Captain Fitzjames brought me his sketch to look at, which he will himself send you. This is taken from Boat Island, in which Parry took his observations, as our officers are now doing. It will, therefore, be an interesting momento of the scene to show him.”
Source: Traill, H.D. The life of Sir John Franklin 1896
Lieutenant John Irving of Terror sketched the same scene. He sent his sketch with his last letter (around 10 July 1845) to his sister-in-law Kate. “I have been making sketches; but you will see all of them when I next come to Falkirk. […] I send you a sketch of our ships at this place. The Erebus is alongside of the transport getting her provisions, and the Terror is a little to the left. The Danish house is in front, and two Eskimaux sealskin tents, which they live in during summer.”
Source: Bell, Benjamin Lieutenant John Irving of the H.M.S. Terror, In Sir John Franklin’s Last Expedition to the Arctic Regions: A Memorial Sketch with Letters 1881
Fitzjames seems to have left out the sealskin tents.
James Fitzjames 