Hand-coloured. James Weddell's 1822-24 expedition to Antarctica was to find new sealing grounds for fur and oil, after Arctic ones had become depleted. It was part of a general shift southward in the whaling and sealing business that , for the same reasons, had followed from Cook's and other late 18th-century voyages into the Pacific, albeit delayed to some extent by the long Anglo-French wars of 1793-1815. Weddell commanded the brig 'Jane', seen in the lead here, while Matthew Brisbane commanded the 'Beaufoy'. They had the benefit of an unusually good southern summer in terms of encountering obstructing ice and reached 74. 15 South in longitude 34. 16'. 45" West, in what was subsequently named the Weddell Sea .The source of this image is an oil painting by Huggins measuring 61 x 91.5 cm (24 x 36 in), itself based on a sketch by Weddell engraved as a plate in his published account, 'A Voyage towards the South Pole: performed in the years 1822-24' (1825). The painting was most recently sold at Bonham's, London, as lot 126 in their 'Travel and Exploration' sale of 7 February 2018. The catalogue entry (pp.78-79) reproduced Weddell's plate, this print, and the oil in colour. [PvdM 2/18]