7 December 2015
A botanist's Christmas in Antarctica
Archivist Virginia Mills shares her favourite Christmas themed letter from the historic archive of Joseph Hooker. A tale of a very Victorian Christmas with a twist.
Joseph Hooker at sea
As December is now well and truly upon us it seems timely to share one of my favourite letters from the Kew Gardens archive. The letter was written by Victorian botanist and one time Director of Kew Gardens: Joseph Hooker. It dates to his time on an expedition to Antarctica, and it has a definite festive theme.
In the letter to his younger sister, Hooker describes in evocative detail, his life on board the ship HMS 'Erebus' where he spent four years as assistant surgeon, and unofficial naturalist, to James Clark Ross' pioneering voyage of discovery to Antarctica (1839-1843). From his letter you can just picture their sister ship, HMS Terror's tame but 'very capricious' pet opossum(!) asleep in a uniform coat as Hooker describes, apparently no other bed would satisfy the creature.
Christmas on an iceberg
Even more entertaining is his account of how he and the rest of the crew from the 'Erebus' and 'Terror' spent Christmas tied to an ice floe. The Christmas of 1841 saw them stuck in the unchartered expanse of the frozen Southern Ocean, but they weren't going to let that stop them from having a good time. As Hooker tells his sister, they carved themselves settlements out of the ice, named them 'Erebus town' and 'Terrorville' and fully outfitted their temporary snow-abodes for festive frolics. Hooker's description can hardly be improved on so I have transcribed an extract:
"The snow was soon cut up into lanes & walks; after which, Saloons were trenched out, with seats all round, for dancing, - racing grounds, & apartments for refreshments, - all ready for Christmas Eve. Mr [John E.] Davis, the second Master of the "Terror," a clever little fellow, agreed with me that we would turn Statuates… I next devised some production on a grand scale, nothing short of a Sphynx, to be hewn out, just off the main road between Erebus Town & Terrorville…this Sphynx was to be 7 feet high & we labored many hours with great diligence….when a gust of wind came, bump went the "Erebus" against the floe:- there was a shock like an earthquake, - tottered the Sphynx to its very base, & then gradually heeling over, crash came it down…& we were left kicking & sprawling in the ruins."
"New Year's Eve was another season of great festivity…the men cut out apartments, with roads to them & thrones for the Captains, race grounds for our 2 live pigs, & greased poles to climb: they also got the gongs (used in fogs) & cow's horns for Trumpets; - Banners & Flags were stuck here & there, with various designs & mottoes upon swinging signboards, such as "the Pioneers of Service," - "the Sailors' Home," - with clasped hands & "Erebus & Terror" written underneath[.] It was of course, quite light at midnight, when the Ships' Bells struck 42 times, signal flags for 1842 were hoisted, Royal Standards, in silk & gold "floated on the breeze," besides silken Jacks & Ensigns innumerable, - a royal Salute was fired from each Ship, 3 cheers were given, the Gongs beaten, - the cows' horns bellowed & groaned, - the poor pigs had their tails pinched till they squeaked again, & such a shout was set up, as none but sailors could find lungs for…Captains & all danced Quadrilles, Country Dances & Waltzes, to a fiddle, 2 flutes, a gong, drum & tambourine, until 3 o'clock the next morning."
Very Victorian traditions
The festivities continued with Twelfth cake for Twelfth night - they were determined in upholding this very English tradition despite the fact the cake was three years old (though apparently still quite good). They played traditional games including 'Baste the Bear', a medieval game that sounds rather like 'tag' with the players in the roles of bear or keeper. They also played 'bell the ring', I've been unable to find out what that game involved so if you know, please tell me!
Digitising Joseph Hooker's letters
This letter has been digitised as part of the Joseph Hooker Correspondence Project and was brought to my attention by one of the project volunteers who transcribed it in full last year. Digital images and the full transcript can be found in the Joseph Hooker collection on the Kew website. Read the full letter to find out more about the various pets and livestock that were part of the Antarctic exhibition and discover further letters from this expedition and others Hooker went on. Letters to Hooker's botanist father, William Jackson Hooker, for example reveal that there was work as well as play. Hooker was a diligent botaniser en-route to Antarctica. He discovered and described several new species of lichens and mosses on previously un-visited sub Antarctic islands, and made copious notes and botanical collections at every stopping point, including New Zealand, Tasmania and Rio de Janeiro. His papers and specimens survive in the archive and herbarium collections preserved at Kew.
Merry Christmas everyone - who knows, it may yet be white, so you can test your own snow-sphinx sculpting skills!
- Ginny -
