File:'Deserters (Desertas) taken on the spott from the Pallas, Decr 74' (Bray album) RMG PT1995.tiff

No. 20 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

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.' Today they are a nature reserve with restricted access but (depending on weather) are usually in plain sight at a distance of about 25 km from the south-east coast of Madeira, running largely north to south compared to its generally east-west axis. Chao, the most northerly, is a small cliff-bound plateau of about 1 sq. km area, today with a lighthouse off the northern point; Deserta Grande (which rises to over 400 m) lies in the middle and Bugio, slightly lower and longer, is to the south. Sail Rock is not usually listed in modern descriptions. Bray's view appears to be of most of Deserta Grande and the northern tip of Bugio, seen from the north-north-west, looking down 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 captains 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. [Updated entry, September 2013]