JOHN CLEVELEY THE YOUNGER (BRITISH, 1747-1786)

H.M.S. 'Carcass' in company with H.M.S. 'Racehorse' in search of the North West Passage

Watercolour over pen and ink

6½ x 10¼in. (16.5 x 26cm.)

One of seven 'Infernal' class bomb-ketchs ordered in 1758, Carcass measured 309 tons and was just 91 feet long with a beam of 28 feet. The sturdy construction necessary for bomb-ketches made her an ideal candidate to convert for Arctic exploration. Capt. Constantine Phipps commanded the 1773 expedition from the Racehorse (another converted bomb-ketch) which left the Nore in June 1773. By the end of July both ships were icebound and were fortunate that a change in the weather allowed them to escape back to Britain -- luckily preserving the young Horatio Nelson. As a fifteen-year-old midshipman on Carcass, this adventure was to be his first significant brush with danger and included his famous encounter with a polar bear. The Carcass was sold out of the service in 1784.

Condition Report

Good condition

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