'The Pike [Peak] of Teneriff bearing W 1/2 S 9 Lgs Jany 75' [Bray album]

No. 32 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

Titled and dated as above and signed 'AVprGB' (to the life by Gabriel Bray), on the backing paper. The drawing itself also bears the inscription 'W 1/2 S' in the top right corner. It shows the Peak of Tenerife, bearing west and half a point south at a distance of nine leagues (nine sea-miles), probably as the 'Pallas' was approaching the island, where she called in en route to Africa.

It is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. 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.

Object Details

ID: PAJ2007
Collection: Fine art
Type: Drawing
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Gabriel Bray
Date made: January 1775; circa 3-5 January 1775 circa 4-5 January 1775
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Purchased with the assistance of the Society for Nautical Research Macpherson Fund
Measurements: Sheet: 160 x 203 mm; 317 x 480 mm