No. 20 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

(Updated, September 2024). On two sheets of paper, joined vertically with the title and date inscribed below the drawing, on a backing slip, plus the signature 'p[er]GB' (by Gabriel Bray). J. A. Hamerton's 'World Pictorial Gazetteer' (London 1932) describes the Desertas as 'Four small rocky islands in the Atlantic Ocean. They are situated S. E. of Madeira, to which they are administratively attached, and are called Bugio, Chao, Deserta Grande and Sail Rock. Uninhabited, they are visited only by fishermen and herdsmen.' Between 1894 and 1971 they, and the similar Selvagens Islands 250 km (153 miles) south of Madeira were owned by two English families but were then bought by the Portuguese state. Today they are a both nature reserves with restricted access but, depending on weather, the Desertas are usually in plain sight at a distance of just over 40 km (25 miles) from Funchal, running largely north to south compared to Madeira's more north-west to south-east axis. Chao, the most southerly, is a small cliff-bound plateau of under 1 sq. km in area, today with a low lighthouse on the northern end; Deserta Grande (which rises to over 400m) lies in the middle and Bugio, slightly lower, is to the north. Sail Rock is not usually listed in modern descriptions but is the 50-metre rock pillar locally called Farilhao or Ilheu de Nossa Senhor, off the south (lighthouse) point of Chao where, at distance, it can be mistaken in daylight for a freestanding light tower. Bray's view appears to be of most of Deserta Grande and the southern tip of Bugio, seen from roughly south-east looking up the chain.

This is a very rare view of these remote islets, taken as the 'Pallas' sailed south from Funchal, Madeira, for West Africa in December 1774 (see also PAJ2009). They are not specifically mentioned in either Bray's or the captain's log of the voyage but the drawing is likely to have been done on 29-30 December. This is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album that was purchased for the Museum by the Macpherson Fund of the Society for Nautical Research in April 1991. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral – on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest. For further detail see PAJ1976