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Edward Bransfield | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1785 |
| Died | 31 October 1852 (aged 66–67) |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1803–1820 |
| Rank | Master |
| Battles / wars | Bombardment of Algiers |
Edward Bransfield (c. 1785 – 31 October 1852) was aRoyal Navy officer who served as amaster on several ships, after beingimpressed into service in Ireland at the age of 18. He is noted for his participation in several explorations of parts ofAntarctica, including a sighting of theTrinity Peninsula in January 1820.[1]
Edward Bransfield was born inBallinacurra, County Corkc. 1785. While little is known of Edward's family or early life, the Bransfields are thought to have been a well-known and respectedCatholic family.[2] They may have had enough money to pay for Edward's education, but because of thePenal Laws, it is more likely that he attended a localhedge school. On 2 June 1803, Bransfield, then eighteen years old, was removed by apress-gang from his father's fishing boat andimpressed into the Royal Navy.[2]
He began as an ordinary seaman on the 110-gunfirst-rateship of the lineHMS Ville de Paris, where he shared living quarters withWilliam Edward Parry, then a twelve-year-old midshipman; Parry later also became known in polar exploration.[3] Bransfield was rated as an able seaman in 1805 and was appointed to the 110-gun first-rateHMS Royal Sovereign (which had taken part in theBattle of Trafalgar); he was promoted in 1806 toable seaman, then 2ndmaster's mate in 1808,midshipman in 1808,clerk in 1809, and midshipman again in 1811. By 1812, he had achieved the rank ofsecond master, and in the same year he was made acting master on HMSGoldfinch, a 10-gunCherokee-classbrig-sloop.
Between the years 1814 and 1816, Bransfield served briefly asmaster on manyfifth-rate ships. On 21 February 1816, he was appointed master of the 50-gunfourth-rateHMS Severn, leading it in theBombardment of Algiers. During September 1817, he was appointed master ofHMSAndromache under the command of CaptainW. H. Shirreff. It was during this tour of duty that he was posted to the Royal Navy's newPacific Squadron offValparaíso in Chile.
During 1773,James Cook sailed beyond theAntarctic Circle, noting with pride in his journal that he was "undoubtedly the first that ever crossed that line." The next year, Cook circumnavigated Antarctica completely and reached a latitude of 71°10'S before being driven back by the ice. Although Cook failed to see Antarctica, he dispelled once and for all the myth that a fertile, populous continent surrounded the South Pole. TheAdmiralty lost interest in the Antarctic and turned its attention to the ongoing search for theNorthwest Passage. Almost half a century passed before anyone else is known to have travelled as far south as Cook.
In February 1819, while roundingCape Horn,William Smith, the owner and skipper of the English merchant shipWilliam, was driven south by adverse winds and discovered what came to be known as theSouth Shetland Islands. When news of his discovery reachedValparaíso, Captain Shirreff of the Royal Navy decided that the matter warranted further investigation. He charteredWilliam and appointed Bransfield, two midshipmen, and the surgeon from the ship HMSSlaney to survey the newly discovered islands. Smith remained aboard, acting as Bransfield'spilot.
After a brief and uneventful voyage into the Southern Ocean, Bransfield and Smith reached the South Shetland Islands. Bransfield landed onKing George Island and took formal possession on behalf ofKing George III (who had died the day before, on 29 January 1820). He then proceeded in a southwesterly direction pastDeception Island, not investigating or charting it. Turning south, he crossed what is now known as theBransfield Strait (named for him byJames Weddell in 1822), and on 30 January 1820 sightedTrinity Peninsula, the northernmost point of the Antarctic mainland. "Such was the discovery of Antarctica," writes the English writerRoland Huntford.[citation needed] Bransfield made a note in his log of two "high mountains, covered with snow", one of which was subsequently namedMount Bransfield byJules Dumont d'Urville in his honour.
Unknown to Bransfield, two days earlier, on 28 January 1820, Russian explorerFabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen may have caught sight of an icy shoreline now known to be part ofEast Antarctica. On the basis of this sighting and the coordinates given in his logbook, Bellingshausen has been credited by some (e.g., British polar historian A. G. E. Jones) with the discovery of the continent.
Having charted a segment of the Trinity Peninsula, Bransfield followed the edge of the Antarctic ice sheet in a northeasterly direction and discovered various points onElephant Island andClarence Island, which he also formally claimed for the British Crown. He did not sail around Elephant Island and did not name it, although he charted Clarence Island completely.
When Bransfield returned to Valparaíso, he gave his charts and journal to Captain Shirreff, who delivered them to the Admiralty. The original charts are still in the possession of the hydrographic department inTaunton, Somerset, but Bransfield's journal has been lost. The Admiralty, it seems, was still more interested in the search for theNorthwest Passage. Two private accounts of Bransfield's historic voyage were published during 1821. During recent years the journal of one of the midshipmen, Charles Poynter, was discovered in New Zealand. An account has been published by theHakluyt Society, edited by Richard Campbell, RN.
The remainder of Bransfield's life is obscure. He died on 31 October 1852 at the age of 66 or 67, and was buried in theBrighton Extra-Mural Cemetery in southern England. His wife survived him and was buried in the same grave after her death in 1863.
Bransfield Island,Bransfield Strait, Bransfield Trough, Bransfield Rocks, andMount Bransfield were all named in his honour.[4]
In 1999, Edward Bransfield's grave, discovered in a deteriorated state in a Brighton churchyard, was renovated (funded by charitable donations) by Sheila Bransfield. In 2002, she completed a master's thesis on his role in the discovery of Antarctica at the Greenwich Maritime Institute. The event was marked by a ceremony attended by numerous dignitaries.
In 2000, the Royal Mail issued a commemorative stamp in Bransfield's honour, but as no likeness of him could be found, the stamp depicted insteadRRSBransfield, an Antarctic surveying vessel named after him.
In January 2020, on the 200th anniversary of his discovery of Antarctica, a commemorative monument was unveiled in his hometown of Ballinacurra, in County Cork, Ireland.[5] On the same day a blue plaque was unveiled at his former home at 11 Clifton Road, Brighton.
It was in this period that Edward Bransfield surveyed the South Shetlands in 1819–20 and may have been the first to sight the Antarctic Continent
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