1836 WRECK OF SHIP CHALLENGER ON COAST of SOUTH AMERICA in 1835 antique

A DIARY OF THE WRECK OF HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP CHALLENGER, ON THE WESTERN COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA, IN MAY, 1835. WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE SUBSEQUENT ENCAMPMENT OF THE OFFICERS AND CREW, DURING A PERIOD OF SEVEN WEEKS, ON THE SOUTH COAST OF CHILI

By [ROTHERY, LIEUTENANT G. A. J.]


 London, Longman, Rees, Orme et al., 1836.

FIRST EDITION

Size 6 by 9"

[3], 160 pp.

folding engraved frontispiece panorama of Molquilla encampment, 3 engravings (2 folding), 

Period boards uncut cloth rebacking. New endpapers.

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A detailed account of the seven-week ordeal which the survivors of the wrecked Challenger endured on the barren Chilean coast, by one of the ship’s officers.

The Challenger sailed from Rio de Janeiro on 1st April, bound for Talcahuano, under the command of Sir Michael Seymour. She was sailing off the coast of Chile when she struck rocks on 19th May 1835. It is believed it was caused by an unusual reversal of current due to the earthquake which struck Conception on 20th February, 1835. Although the Challenger was lost, the crew were able to salvage a considerable amount of her stores and to establish a camp. Concerned about the location, the survivors abandoned their camp on 8th June and established a new camp at the mouth of the Lebu River, about 16 kilometers (10 mi) north.

HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy, was surveying the coast and about to leave Valparaiso on 14th June when an English merchant got a letter which mentioned the shipwreck.
FitzRoy was convinced it was the Challenger captained by his friend. He took HMS Blonde south to Conception to search for Seymour’s Lebu camp. They had some difficulty finding the Lebu River, but they saw the signal fires at the camp. With some difficulties, they had the survivors on board on the 15th June.

The account also includes a brief description of the earthquake’s destruction of Conception, and concludes with Seymour’s court-martial acquittal.

This is the Third HMS Challenger, which is best known for its responsibility for the creation of the colony of Western Australia in 1829, under the command of Charles Fremantle.
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With the bookplate of Charles Fleischmann III. 

Charles Fleischmann III, the great-grandson of the founder of the Fleischmann Yeast Company which opened in 1868 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
After promoting the business at the 1876 Centennial Exposition the Fleischmann Yeast Company became the largest producer of yeast in the world.
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