A NAVAL CHRONICLE

By Richard J. Westall


There is an interesting network of art and naval history covering the years between Captain James Cook’s famous voyage on the Endeavour (1768 - 1771),
with Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820) as his botanist, the voyage of Resolution ( 1772 – 1775) when William Hodges R.A. (1744 -1797) was Cook’s artist and the first decade of the 19th century with the death of Nelson and the aftermath.



Along with James Cook (1728 – 1779), Banks and Hodges we find several others enmeshed in this network. We have George Dance (1741 – 1825) and his nephew Commander Sir Nathaniel Dance (1748 – 1827), Richard Westall R.A. (1765 – 1836) and his half-brother William Westall A.R.A. (1781 – 1850) and their brother in law William Daniell R.A. (1769 -1837) with his uncle Thomas Daniell R.A. (1749 – 1840). We can appreciate these relationships if we consider portraits associated with these men..

The celebrated portrait of Captain Cook by George Dance in 1776 starts our journey. Next we have a portrait of Sir Joseph Banks when he was President of the Royal Society, drawn by George Dance in 1803 and published as an engraving by William Daniell in 1811. Next we have the portrait of William Hodges by Richard Westall exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1791 and engraved for publication in 1792. Then there is a portrait of Sir Nathaniel Dance by Richard Westall, engraved and published in 1805. More problematical, but worthy of serious consideration is the miniature portrait of Matthew Flinders (1774 – 1814), executed in 1801 and attributed to both Richard and William Westall. I will argue that it is probably by the former. William Westall (Richard’s half-brother) sailed with Captain Matthew Flinders on the Investigator (1801 – 1803) as landscape artist, when William Daniell decided not to go on this journey in order to marry Richard Westall’s sister Mary. There is also a fine portrait of William Daniell (c1800) by Richard Westall and another of Mrs William Daniell (c 1800), both of which are at the Royal Academy. William Hodges married the Westall’s cousin Anne Carr as his third wife and Richard Westall exhibited a portrait of Mrs Hodges and her daughter at the R.A. in 1790. George Dance drew a portrait of Richard Westall in 1803, which was mistakenly said to be of William Westall on an engraving and George Dance completed a pencil portrait of Thomas Daniell R.A. (1749 – 1840) in 1800. The natural culmination of this maritime web comes with the Nelson paintings by Richard Westall (1), four of which were exhibited at the R.A. in 1807.

There is more to these connections of exploration, naval exploits and artistic endeavour than portraits. I will be examining this network, but first a further word on two of the portraits. The portrait of Richard Westall by George Dance was published as an engraving of William Westall and is listed as such in the British Museum’s ‘Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits’ (2) However the identity of the sitter was questioned by Donald Simpson, co-editor of ‘Westall’s Drawings’ (3) which was about William Westall’s work mainly in Australia during the voyage of the Investigator (1801 – 1803) . Simpson had every intention of using this portrait in the volume to illustrate the countenance of William but his research at the Royal Academy turned up the same portrait in reverse as being of Richard Westall, signed ‘Geo. Dance Jan 31st 1803’. Simpson reflected that ‘At that date Richard Westall was a well known R.A. living in London; William was an obscure young man on board the Investigator off the Australian coast.’ (3)

The other portrait, where attribution has been uncertain, is the miniature of the profile of Matthew Flinders. No artist’s name has been known for painting this portrait. However in 1971 an historical romance about the life of Matthew Flinders declared ‘The commander sat for his miniature to the nineteen year old Westall’.(4) This fictional work, based on historical fact provides no source for this suggestion.

In 1981 I wrote to the National Portrait Gallery suggesting the artist of the miniature might well be Richard, rather than William, Westall. Richard Walker responded to this tentative attribution advising me he was ‘responsible for the Regency Catalogue’ at the Gallery. He continued ‘I am specially grateful to have Ernestine Hill’s reference to Flinders…I wonder where she found that little nugget! We have of course Helen Jones’s copy here, painted in 1919 from the original miniature given to the Mitchell Library, New South Wales, by Professor Flinders-Petrie, and I wrote some time ago to ask if there were any visible signature or inscription on it – the answer was none... I think your idea of Richard Westall as a likely artist is a good one’. He continued by describing Richard Westall’s miniature watercolour ‘of the three Spencer children’ at Althorp, which might well be worth seeing to get a fairly contemporary comparison. (5) I wrote to Earl Spencer but was advised the miniature could not be found, although it is listed and no sale of the item is known. In fact several miniatures by Richard Westall of Earl Spencer’s family, are known. (6)

Richard Westall had learnt miniature painting from John Alefounder (1760 – 1820) and visited Flinders at Portsmouth in June, 1801. Farington reports that ‘Westall called to desire me to express my opinion on his Brother William’s abilities to Sir Joseph Banks. He left his brother on board the Ship (Investigator) at Portsmouth’. (7) Rex Reinits, using documents in Melbourne Public Library, reports that ‘He (Richard Westall) and Flinders apparently got on well and Richard was to write to Flinders, thanking him for his kindness to young William’.(8) This could have been important as Flinders observed on July 5, 1801: ‘My messmates improve upon acquaintance; even young Westall, though his foolish days are not yet passed.’ (9) Richard helped William with £200 in order to meet the expense of outfitting himself. The East India Company also provided a grant of £600 for ‘scientific staff’ including William. The Company promised a similar sum at the end of the voyage. (10) It is thus more likely that Richard Westall, rather than his younger brother, who executed a quick miniature portrait of Flinders for his wife shortly before departure.

Richard Westall is little known outside specialist art circles today but he had thirty years of fame, covering the last two decade of the 18th century and the first decade of the 19th. (11) One can gauge his position to some extent, ironically enough, through the acidic pen of his severest contemporary critic Anthony Pasquin. Whose real name was John Williams. He fits the prototype of the despised critic: he had failed at his chosen occupation, been rejected as an artist but showed talent as an art critic. His observations are valuable to this day.

He contributed two guides to Royal Academy exhibitions of 1794 and 1796, just when Richard Westall was at his most popular. Of the pictures exhibited in 1794
Pasquin gave a final ‘accolade’ to Richard Westall, which might gives us a clue as to the atmosphere of the time: ‘ I am apparently severe towards Mr Westall, of whose genius I do not think cheaply, but it wants pruning and melioration; he has been precipitated to the command of the fleet, before he well knows the principles of navigation!’. (12) These naval associations were probably not accidental; Richard Westall was something of a lynchpin between the artistic and naval communities of his time.

Richard’s association with the Flinders voyage to Australia, when he held the position of a Royal Academician of note, was of assistance to his brother. Sir Joseph Banks played an even more key role. His relationship with the Admiralty over decisions prior to sailing is evident from letters between Sir Joseph and Sir Ewan Nepean, a significant figure at the Admiralty. On 28 April 1801, Banks wrote to Nepean asking whether the proposal he had sent for an alteration in the undertaking of the ‘scientific staff’ sailing on the Investigator was approved with the words ‘Any proposal you may make will be approved. The whole is left entirely to your decision.’ (13) The original proposal from the Admiralty had been that ‘the Scetches (sic) the draughtsmen may make during the voyage… should without exception be the property of the Public’. But Banks suggested that Objections to this condition were reasonable and expressed the view that sketches ‘especially slight ones’ might be made ‘in the progress of the business’ and be ‘of no importance to the Public, tho of great value to the draughtsmen for the Cultivation of their own Talents.’ Banks proposed therefore that the agreement should now read: ‘that all such drawings as shall be finished during the voyage, & all such scetches as their Lordships shall order to be Finished after the return of the Ship to England, shall be the property of the Public.’ (14)

The Flinders voyage which circumnavigated Australia ended, in reality, with a shipwreck in mid August, 1803 on a reef off the North Australian coast. Prior to this on 14 June 1803 Investigator had been deemed ‘not worth repairing in any country’ and that it would be ‘impossible in this country to put her in a state fit to go to sea’. (15) It is worth noting that this verdict was to prove entirely wrong.

The Investigator had been built in Durham as a collier named Xenophon in 1795 and was purchased by the Navy in 1798. Matthew Flinders wrote that ‘On the 19th of January 1801, a commission was signed at the Admiralty appointing me lieutenant of His Majesty’s sloop Investigator, to which name of the ship, heretofore known as Xenophon, was changed.’ (16) After being left in Sydney, condemned, the Governor of the New South Wales as representative of the Crown, discovered that the lower part of the hull of the Investigator had been found to be remarkably sound. After refitting and other work she was used by the colony and sailed to Norfolk Island in January 1805. The vessel then returned to England, sailing on 23 May 1805, arriving in October, although it was reported that ‘the single deck was almost constantly under water.’ Investigator was condemned again, this time by the Navy Board on 28 July 1810, but was sold in December of that year. The vessel was not broken up at Plymouth as has been reported but returned to merchant service, appearing in Lloyd’s Register for the first time in 1813, but under her original name Xenophon. Repairs were made several times in subsequent years. Ironically her final days were spent in Australia where she arrived in 1853. After passing hands through several owners and the last entry in the Register of British Ships is that she was broken up in 1872. Yet she remained on the Mercantile Navy List until 1882. Thus this historic vessel proved hardier than all those who had sailed on her during the Australian voyage. (17) Ann Flinders Petrie, the Captain’s great grand daughter informs us that a model of the Investigator hangs in the Seamen’s Chapel of Lincoln Cathedral. (18)

After Investigator was found unfit in Australia Flinders was offered the use of H.M.S. Porpoise to continue his survey. However it was decided that the Porpoise was unsuitable for such a task. It was thought sensible for Flinders to return to England in her under the command of Lieutenant Fowler, although Governor King instructed Fowler to comply with any orders Flinders might give. The plan was to persuade the Admiralty to give Flinders a ship so he could return to Australia and finish his task. William Westall was among the passengers. They set sail from Port Jackson on 10th August, 1803 along with Captain Palmer of the Bridgewater and Captain Park of the Cato. A week later at 9.30 p.m. Porpoise struck a coral reef and heeled over, the Cato was also shipwrecked.(19) As William wrote later: ‘After the first confusion had subsided, all was coolness…For about a quarter of an Hour after the ship struck, it was doubtful whether we should be burnt or drowned; for a Candle, which had been left in the Gun Room, had set some Curtains on fire, and the flame, quickly increasing, was rapidly gaining ground….The Crew laboured incessantly.’ The fire was dowsed and many of the crew were so tired they simply fell asleep as did William. (20)

Flinders tried to swim that night to the Bridgewater to organise a rescue attempt, but this was not possible. The next morning the party found that they were on a sandbank and the next day discovered that the Bridgewater was seemingly unharmed. Then to the shock of all those stranded the survivors saw Bridgewater sail away. Flinders realised the Bridgewater had abandoned their fellow seamen ‘without having made any effort to give assistance. It was safer in his (Captain Palmer’s) estimation, to continue his voyage and publish that were all lost, as he did not fail to do on his arrival in India.’ (21) The plight of the castaways from the Porpoise and the Cato was relieved to some extent as they were able to lodge on a dry sandbank. Cato had faired even worse than the Porpoise and three youths from that ship had drowned, being the only fatalities. Adequate provisions were transferred onto what came to be known as Wreck Reef and William was able to save most of his sketches. He later made several drawings of Wreck Reef. When back in London he painted an oil of the scene at Wreck Reef. This picture is now at the National Maritime Museum. It shows the collection of tents erected by the castaways from spars and sails taken from the two wrecked ships and depicts an upturned ensign as a sign of distress.

Another illustration of Wreck Reef in ink and watercolour by Jorgen Jorgenson (1780 – 1841) has recently come to light, entitled Loss of His Majesty’s Ship the Porpoise and dated 1804. It shows two vessels shipwrecked with seamen on a sandbank and some rowers nearby. It may be that this picture is the result of a meeting between William and Jorgensen but it is perhaps more likely that Jorgenson, who was in Australian waters at the time, met some of the seamen who travelled from the Reef back to Sydney. His illustration is incorrect if compared to William’s drawings but he may had sight of a sketch by William, acquired in some way. (22)

When Flinders left the reef with Captain Park and a crew of twelve men rowing two six-oared cutters for Sydney to obtain assistance, the seamen remaining hauled down the upturned ensign and rehoisted it the right way up. Flinders saw this as ‘a symbolic expression of contempt for the Bridgewater and of confidence in the success of our voyage.’ (23)

It was confidence well placed. It took just thirteen days for the rowers to get to Sydney and a report was made to the Governor. He contracted the captain of a merchantman, the Rolla which was bound for China, to pick up the stranded seamen and take them to Canton. Two small schooners, the Francis and the Cumberland were to accompany Rolla to the reef. The Francis was to bring back those who wished to return to Sydney. The Cumberland was described by Flinders as ‘something less than a Gravesend passage boat’. (24) It was to be used by the Captain as he desired and Flinders used this vessel in his attempt to return to England, unfortunately being detained by the French on Mauritius for some six years on the way.

The three ships sailed, after a short preparation, on 21st September. It was with great relief that the vessels were greeted when they arrived at the reef. Flinders described this experience as one of the happiest moments of his life. (25) The Captain’s plans were made known and quick decisions were needed. Most decided to travel to Canton on the Rolla, including Fowler and William, and left on 11th October just hours before William’s twenty second birthday.

William arrived in Whampoa on 14 December 1803. (26) On 25 January he was known to be ‘extremely desirous of proceeding to Ceylon and other parts of India which have hitherto been but little visited of artists’ (27) Whilst in China William made several drawings and wrote to Sir Joseph Banks on 31st January 1804 laying out ‘the principal reasons that have induced me to take India in my route home.’ William was ‘sorry to say the voyage to New Holland’ had not answered his expectations ‘in any one way; for though I did not expect there was so much to be got in New Holland, I should have been fully recompensed for being so long on that barren coast by the richness of the South Seas Islands which, on leaving England, I had reason to suppose we should have wintered at, instead of Port Jackson. I was not aware the voyage was confined to New Holland only; had I known this, I most certainly would not have engaged in a hazardous voyage where I could have little opportunity of employing my pencil with any advantage to myself or my employers’. William further attempted to justify his decision by mentioning that he was accepting the advice of a Mr Lance who said ‘that as I had so few sketches of New Holland there could be no necessity for my returning immediately to England.’ (28) It should be explained that David Lance was a member of the Select Committee in Canton, an official of the East India Company and Banks’ man in China. He appears to have had considerable influence there.

The Memorandum of Agreement signed by all scientific staff who sailed on the Investigator described the purpose of the voyage as ‘exploring the Country of New Holland’. (29) The knowledge of ‘New Holland’ at that time was slight. When Thomas Daniell went to tea with Joseph Farington on 28 March, 1800 he mentioned ‘his nephew [was] going with Captn Flinders, to explore and make out the boundaries of New Holland, abt which there are some doubts, that is whether a Meditteranean Sea (italics in original) does not pass between those parts which have been supposed to form one Island. They are also to visit some Islands situated further out than those of Otaheite.’ (30) On 30 December 1800 Farington reports that ‘Robt Smirke has recd an acct from London that an offer was made last Wednesday, to Wm Daniell to go on a voyage of Discovery to the South Seas, and that on Thursday he accepted the offer.’ (31)

Subsequently, as we have already recorded, William Westall replaced William Daniell as landscape artist on the Investigator. As a schoolboy William Westall is said to have met William Hodges, a friend of Richard Westall’s. Rex Reinits declares that ‘it seems probable [that] his (William Westall’s) own determination to travel sprang from listening to the stories this much travelled artist would have had to tell.’ (32)

William has been severely criticised for his letter to Banks from China. The gentlest admonition is that he was imprudent. Barton suggests that William ‘was nothing more than a commercial gentleman’ (33) William’s description of the ‘barren coast’ of Australia is contradicted by his finished oil paintings of the country although at that stage the influence of his brother and the expectations of the Royal Academy may well have compromised his recollections. (34)

William’s voyage from China to India beginning in February, 1804 on the merchantman Carron , gave the young artist another notable naval experience. The merchantman was placed under the command of Captain Nathaniel Dance, who was preparing to engage with French warships. On the afternoon of 15th February 1804 in the Strait of Malacca a conflict took place between the British convoy and a small French squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Linois. Dance’s bold strategy of bluff resulted in the French deciding a conflict would not be advisable and their fleet rapidly left the area. The episode was described as a Battle off Pulo Auro, a name later changed by the Admiralty to Pulau Aur (Pulau being the Malayan for island). In the Naval Chronicle (35) a statement on the episode appeared as issued by the Admiralty, concerning a message transmitted by Dance from the Earl of Camden (6th August 1804). He mentions the ships put under his orders as senior commander including the Cumberland (on which Flinders was travelling, which makes it all the more surprising that he went on to French-held Mauritius) and those put under his charge, which included the Carron. The Rolla is also mentioned as ‘the Botany Bay Ship’. Robert Westall in his 1850 manuscript memoir on the life of his father records that William ‘witnessed the renowned action in the Straits of Malacca, where Admiral Linois (was) beaten off by a fleet of British merchantmen commanded by Sir Nathaniel Dance’. (36)

Whilst off the coast of the Malaysia Peninsular William painted a watercolour of what has been described as ‘one of the earliest extant views of Prince of Wales Island (Penang) ’ (37) William then arranged for Lieutenant Fowler, who had distinguished himself during Dance’s confrontation with Linois, to take his drawings of Australia to England. William reached Bombay on 30 April where he was the first to disprove the report by Captain Palmer that all those aboard the Rolla and Cato had perished at sea. After spending some three months in Western India (38) Willaim left for England in mid August and was back in England in February, 1805. (39)

When Fowler had returned to England he delivered William’s drawings to the Admiralty and discussed their state with Banks. On 22 August Sir Joseph wrote to William Marsden at the Admiralty: ‘I have been informed by Lieut Fowler that the Drawings of Mr Westhall (sic) the artist employed on board the Investigator which the Lieut delivered to you on his Return are by no means in a secure state they having been damaged by water at the time the Porpoise was lost on Wreck Reef & not yet sufficiently freed from the effects of salt water. His Elder Brother Mr Westhall Royal academician wishes much to be allowed to examine them & put them in a secure state which he thinks he can do.’ (40)

Banks undertook to be responsible for the receipt of the drawings and their transmission to Richard Westall. This action was approved. Banks commented to botanist Robert Brown, who had also travelled on the Investigator, that there were ‘several sketches, some of them interesting’ among William’s portfolio. (41) The extent of any damage cannot be ascertained nor is the work Richard Westall did with respect to the drawings known. (42) On 31 August Banks advised the Admiralty that they were ‘now in a situation to be preserved if kept in a dry place’. (43)

Banks then succeeded in persuading the Admiralty to have William’s salary for the expedition paid (44) after reminding the Admiralty, who had originally refused to pay the salaries of William and the miner John Allen (arguing that they had not produced a certificate signed by Flinders but only one from Lt. Fowler) that Flinders was a prisoner on Mauritus continuing that ‘from everything I have been able to learn by Correspondence with Capt. Flinders, & other persons on board, all these persons conducted themselves with great propriety both to their Commander & to each other, & were diligent in the extreme, in their respective Departments’.(45)

As soon as William returned to England he visited Banks and asked whether he could help him with respect to his Australian work, since with Flinders imprisoned William could not complete the work on illustrating the voyage. (46) This was a request beyond the original contract but on 21 February but Banks wrote to the Admiralty asking if he could be entrusted ‘with the care of Mr Westall’s Scetches (and) to give him (Westall) such indulgencies as I may think may be done without injuring their Lordships interest & that of the Public’. (47) This request was approved, although William himself was advised by Under-Secretary Marsden that he could only use one sketch ‘for the purpose of painting a picture for the coming exhibition.’ (48)

William then set out on his travels again, visiting Madeira once more and Jamaica. On his return he negotiated further with the Admiralty over his drawings, with the aid of Banks. However it was not until the return of Flinders from captivity in October 1810 that any real progress was made. Flinders was to prepare an account of his voyage and in January 1811 Banks was requested to take charge of the ‘Sketches, Charts, journals and the manuscripts now in the Admiralty’. (49) Then he was to submit a list of subjects for embellishment. Flinders discussed the selection of drawings with William and 28 coastal views were chosen. (50) William then painted these as watercolours which became the basis for the engravings in the Atlas to Flinders’ two volume Voyage to Terra Australis . Banks’ request to the Admiralty for 30 guineas to be paid for them was met and several further plates were prepared concerning the voyage. Banks assisted with engaging engravers and 9 engravings were produced. The task of engraving appears to have been supervised by William, who wrote to the Admiralty secretary John Crocker on 26 March, 1812 that ‘the Pictures which have been engraved are not yet ready to send in to the Admiralty as one of them is very much injured’. Crocker is further informed that ‘Mr W. is at present very much occupied in the preparing for the approaching Exhibition, in a month Mr W will take care that they shall be sent’. (51) The paintings of Port Bowen and Sir Edward Pellew’s Group, were exhibited at the Royal Academy, resulting in William’s election to become an Associate of the Royal Academy. In total ten oil paintings were completed for the Admiralty. At one stage Banks wrote to Croker recommending a view of the Murray Islands declaring that ‘in my judgement (it) does great credit to his (Westall’s) pencil.’ (52) In 1814 Flinders’ two volume Voyage to Terra Australis was published with the nine Westall illustrations engraved, together with the 28 coastal views in the Atlas. The main nine engravings were issued separately. (53)

APPENDIX
Between 1806 and 1816 William’s illustrations of his world journeys were published as engraved vignettes in The Naval Chronicle which was published between 1799 and 1818 in 40 volumes. Richard Westall’s frontispiece to volumes 1 – 6 was an engraving of Britannia and William’s contributions were in volumes 16, 20 (2) 21, 22 (2), 26, 28 and 31. Original spelling is used. Dates given after the engravings are date of publication. My comments are in [brackets].
1 View looking up Coupang River, Island of Timor engraved S. Medland 30 August 1806 – from a drawing by Mr William Westall, brother of the Academician, ‘Mr Westall is at present resident in the island of Madeira.’ [NMM have an aquatint of this view]
2 Malay Prows, and a View of the South side of Coupang Bay, Island of Timor engraved Bennett 31 August 1808, ‘these proas are very fast sailers’.
3 View of the East of Madeira, engraved by Bennett Oct 31, 1808 drawn 1807, ‘a drawing by that rising young artist, Mr William Westall’. [A coloured aquatint of this view is known and the NMM have ‘Unidentified Native Craft’ dated 31 Aug 1808 engraved by William James Bennet as as aquatint & etching]
4 Bombay Castle, engraved Baily April 29, 1809, ‘an accurate representation’. [NMM have a print published by Smith, Elder & co of Westall’s ‘North West View of the Fort of Bombay’ engraved by R.G. Reeve]
5 Government House, Funchall, Madeira, engraved Baily, 30th September, 1809, Drawn 1807. ‘The town residence of the Governor of Madeira.’
6 Port Jackson, New South Wales, engraved Baily, Nov 30th 1809. ‘The annexed view, by Mr Westall, was taken from Garden Island. The ships appear off the entrance of Sidney Cove, the chief settlement.’ [Photo of original in my blog]
7 View on Canton River, China, engraved Baily, 31 August 1811. ‘Taken about thirty miles from Canton’ [The original of this attractive picture is in the National Maritime Museum].
8 Mosk in Panwell river Dekhan, India, engraved Baily, Nov 30, 1812. ‘About twelve miles from the sea.’ [This plate is erroneously said to be of China in the introduction to the Plates]
9 Fort Cornwallis – Prince of Wales Island, engraved Baily, 30 Jan 1813. ‘In the Strait, near the coast of Malacca.’ [Original in the India Office].
10 Panwell River, Dekkan, India, engraved Baily 31 December 1816.
* The NMM have an engraving executed by W.Westall A.R.A. and published by Richard Bentley in 1836 of ‘Sir James Saumarez in the Crescent and Capt Ellison in the Druid engaging a French Squadron of superior force, to cover the escape of the Eurydice, Capt. Cole, June 8th 1794.’ This engraving was probably from a drawing by a seaman who witnessed the event.
REFERENCES
See Huw Lewis-Jones ‘Nelson and the Bear: The Making of an Arctic Myth’ Trafalgar Chronicle 15 (2005) pp 82-119 and Richard J. Westall ‘‘The Story is Admirably Told’ The Nelson Pictures’ pp171-179 Trafalgar Chronicle 16 (2006) & Plate 5.
VI (1925, 431). This portrait is illustrated in Trafalgar Chronicle 16 p 171
Ed. T.M. Perry & D.Simpson Royal Commonwealth Society 1962 p 33.
4. Ernestine Hill My Love Must Wait: The Story of Matthew Flinders (Angus & Robertson) 1941 p215
5. Letter from Richard Walker to the author15 September 1981
6. Loan Collection Kensington 1865, listed in Appendix C of Foster’s ‘British Miniature Painters’
7. Ed K.Garlick & A. Macintyre Diaries of Joseph Farington R.A. (New Haven: Yale University Press 1979) vi, 1562
8. Rex & Thea Reinits Early Artists in Australia (Angus & Robertson) p 87. Rex Reinits wrote the chapter on Westall pp80 - 123
10. See K.A. Austin ‘Voyage of the Investigator’ (Angus & Robertson 1963). Flinders to his wife.
11. For further information on Richard Westall’s life see Richard J. Westall ‘The Westall Brothers’, Turner Studies, 4:1 (1984), pp23-38, his entry in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (on line), the website www.bradonpace.com/westall and the blog http://www.westallart.blogspot.com/ .

12. A. Pasquin A Liberal Critique on the Exhibition for 1794 at the Royal Academy pp24/25

13. H.B. Carter Transcript (kindly sent to the author) HRNSW, iv: 348

14. Ibid PRO Adm 1/4377

15. M. Flinders A Voyage to Terra Australis 2 Vols and atlas (London : G & W. Nicol, 1814) ii p275

Ibid Opening paragraph i

N.T. Geeson and R.T. Sexton ‘HM Sloop Investigator’ Mariner’s Mirror 56, 3 August 1970. I am grateful to Matthew G. Little for providing me with this

source.

18. Ann Flinders Petrie – letter This England Winter 1982

19. Reinits p. 107

20 J. Clarke ‘Naufragia or Historical Memoirs of Shipwrecks’ 2 vols London (1805) p.386

21. Flinders ii p305

22. S.Bakewell TheEnglish Dane (Chatto & Windus) 2005. There is an illustration of the scene of the Wreck (plate 4) but

there is no comparison with William’s eye witness drawings.

23. Flinders ii p 309

24. Ibid ii p 315

25. Ibid ii p 323

26. Sir William Foster ‘British Artists in India 1760 – 1820’ Walpole Society 1930/1

27. The China Records of the India Office 145 p. 153

28. The text of this letter is in G.B. Barton History of New South Wales (Charles Potter) plxxii

29. Carter Transcript PRO Adm 1/4379

30. Farington vi p.1528. Otaheite was regarded as the South Seas towards Hawaii.

31. Ibid iv p. 1475

32. Reinits p.82

33. Barton p.lxxii et seq

34. J.Auerbach ‘The picturesque and the homogenisation of Empire’ British Art Journal (London) v 1 Spring/Summer 2004

35. Naval Chronicle 1804 xxii 1804 p. 137

36. For a full description see Colonel R. St J. Gillespie ‘Sir Nathaniel Dance’s Battle off Pulo Auro’ Mariner’s Mirror, 21 (1935) 163-186. I am grateful to

Matthew G. Little for this material.

37 M. Archer & J. Baskin ‘The Raffles Drawings in the India Office Library’ (1978) no 5. On the back of this watercolour is written ‘Drawn & finished while

in a vessel(sic) off the Island in 1804’.

38 See Richard J. Westall ‘William Westall in India’ Marg, Mumbai xlvii 4 June 1996 pp 94/6 and Richard J. Westall ‘William Westall in India’ Journal of

The Families in British India Society 13 Spring 2005 pp2-5 and cover.

39 Farington vii p25520 (ed K. Cave 1982) : 19 Feb 1805 ‘Westall called and spoke abt His brother having returned from India’.

40 See ‘New Light on Westall’ Library Notes new series 103 July 1965. The author is likely to have been Donald Simpson. (ref ADM 1/4378, no27)

41 Ibid Admiralty to Banks Hist Rec NSW v 455.

42 Westall’s Drawings p 17 for a discussion of the possible damage to William’s drawings during the voyage.

43 ‘New Light on Westall’ ADM 1/4378 no 28

44 Ibid Sept 8 1805 Banks to Admiralty ADM 1/4378, no 29

45 Ibid Hist. Red NSW iv 350 – 351

46 Ibid Hist Rec NSW v 558

47 Ibid Banks to Admiralty ADM 1/4379 no 63

48 Ibid Marsden to Westall Hist Rec NSW v 564

49 Ibid 29 May Banks to Croker ADM 1/4382

50 Reinits 118 referring to Flinders Papers in Melbourne Public Library

51 New Light Banks to Croker ADM 1/4382 no 1594

52 William Westall to Croker 26 March 1812. Author’s collection. This appears to question the view expressed by Reinits that Banks was in charge of the

engraving procedure.

53 New Light 20 Nov 1812 ADM 1/4382 no 1095

54 See Richard J. Westall ‘William Westall: A Catalogue of His Book Illustration’ Antiquarian Book Monthly Review v. xiii 12 issue 152








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