ACADEMIA Letters Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean Yianni Cartledge, Candidate for PhD, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia Nineteenth-century British-Australian surveyor Owen Stanley is best known as captain aboard HMS Rattlesnake, where he led expeditions around Australia and Papua New Guinea.1 His time in the Asia-Pacific is where he famously surveyed the Great Barrier Reef, and lent his name to Papua New Guinea’s Owen Stanley Range, before passing away in Sydney in March 1850.2 This latter part of his life is the subject of the 1968 book Owen Stanley R.N, 18111850: Captain of the ‘Rattlesnake’ and the article ‘Owen Stanley in the Pacific’, both by his relative, Adelaide Lubbock.3 In recent years, historian Ann Moyal published the 2012 article ‘Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake’ in the NLA’s The National Library Magazine; and the Rattlesnake was the subject of Jordan Goodman’s 2005 book.4 However, prior to his Southern Hemisphere career, Stanley’s focus was on Europe and the Mediterranean region. Stanley, born in 1811 at Alderley, Cheshire, was part of a privileged family that had both naval and political roots.5 Between 1831 and 1836, Stanley was stationed in the Mediterranean aboard a catalogue of ships, beginning as a midshipman on HMS Belvidera at Malta. While in the Mediterranean, Stanley surveyed and drew sketches of the many ports and islands that he visited, including Malta, Nafplio, Salamis, Izmir, Istanbul, Corinth, Chios, Syros, Tinos, 1 Francis West, ‘Stanley, Owen (1811-1850)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 1967.; Ann Moyal, ‘Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake’, The National Library Magazine, June 2012, 8-11. 2 Adelaide Lubbock, ‘Owen Stanley in the Pacific’, The Journal of Pacific History, 3, 1968, 47-63.; G. J. McCarthy, ‘Stanley, Owen (1811-1850)’, Encyclopedia of Australian Science, 1993, modified 2006. 3 Adelaide Lubbock, Owen Stanley R.N, 1811-1850: Captain of the ‘Rattlesnake’, Heinemann, Melbourne & London, 1968.; Lubbock, ‘Owen Stanley in the Pacific’, 47-63. 4 Moyal, ‘Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake’, 8-11.; Jordan Goodman, The Rattlesnake: A Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea, Faber, London, 2005. 5 Lubbock, Owen Stanley R.N, 3-16. Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 1 Samos, Ikaria and Tangier, among others. When disembarking at these locations, Stanley was awakened to an entirely new world at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe, which was reflected through his later sketches. In the 1830s Mediterranean, Stanley would have also intersected with many pivotal events. These included: the Greek War of Independence’s end and the establishment of a Western European monarch in Greece; early Risorgimento uprisings in Northern Italy; the start of major European influence in Morocco; the French conquest of Algeria; the expansion of Muhammad Ali of Egypt into Ottoman territory; and the beginning of Ottoman reforms under Mahmud II.6 His experiences of this vibrant, cosmopolitan yet changing world were echoed in his drawings and watercolour paintings during his time as Lieutenant aboard HMS Mastiff, with Lieutenant Commander and surveyor Thomas Graves from 1834-36.7 The astounding collection originating in these years included images of the Bayezid II Mosque, Istanbul, and St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valetta, Malta, pictured below. Stanley followed his Mediterranean service with an Arctic expedition aboard HMS Terror, before ultimately finding himself south of the Equator. Many of Stanley’s compelling Mediterranean images, titled the Scenes of Turkey, Malta, Cyclades, 1834, are freely available online via the National Library of Australia’s Trove search, and the full sketchbook is held in the Special Collections at Canberra.8 Collections of the Stanley family papers, detailing correspondences and family histories, as well as Stanley’s drawings aboard the Rattlesnake and other ships,are also available online from the NLA.9 The Australian Dictionary of Biography even has an article detailing his life.10 Stanley’s career and the images he left behind create a fascinating snapshot of the mid-nineteenth century. The way in which he captured both global and individualistic elements is paramount for any historian searching for a visualisation of this far-reaching and remote era. 6 David Brewer, The Flame of Freedom: The Greek War of Independence, 1821-1833, John Murray, London, 2001, 337-51.; Spencer M. Di Scala, Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present, 4th edn., Routledge, London & New York, 2018, 57-66.; Susan Gilson Miller, A History of Modern Morocco, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013, 7-27.; Steven Loyal, ‘The French in Algeria, Algerians in France: Bourdieu, colonialism, and migration’, The Sociological Review, 57(3), 2009, 406-27.; Peter Mansfield, A History of the Middle East, 4th edn., Penguin Books, London, 2013, 52-70.; M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2008, 55-71. 7 William R. O’Byrne, A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty’s Navy, 3, John Murray, London, 1849, 1109. 8 Owen Stanley, Scenes of Turkey, Malta, Cyclades, 1834, National Library of Australia, PIC Volume 1194 #R4639-R4675, 1834-1836. See also: Yianni Cartledge, ‘Academic Research During COVID-19’, Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) South Australian Branch Newsletter, new series 16, March 2021, 11. 9 Papers of the Stanley Family (as filmed by AJCP), National Library of Australia, M463, 1832-1893. 10 West, ‘Stanley, Owen (1811-1850)’. Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 2 Figure I: Bayezid II Mosque, Istanbul, by Owen Stanley, National Library of Australia, PIC R4643 LOC1116-F, 1834. Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 3 Figure II: St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valetta, Malta, by Owen Stanley, National Library of Australia, PIC R4675 LOC1120-F, 1836. Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 4 References Primary Sources Papers of the Stanley Family (as filmed by AJCP), National Library of Australia, M463, 1832-1893, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-753098167 Stanley, Owen, ‘Badjazets Mosque, Stamboul’, Scenes of Turkey, Malta, Cyclades, 1834,National Library of Australia, PIC R4643 LOC1116-F, 1834, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138511241 Stanley, Owen, ‘Interior of St. John’s Church, Malta, 1836’, Scenes of Turkey, Malta, Cyclades, 1834,National Library of Australia, PIC R4675 LOC1120-F, 1836, http://nla.gov. au/nla.obj-138512498 Stanley, Owen, Scenes of Turkey, Malta, Cyclades, 1834, National Library of Australia, PIC Volume 1194 #R4639-R4675, 1834-1836, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138511196 Secondary Sources Brewer, David, The Flame of Freedom: The Greek War of Independence, 1821-1833, John Murray, London, 2001. Cartledge, Yianni, ‘Academic Research During COVID-19’, Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) South Australian Branch Newsletter, new series 16, March 2021, 11. Di Scala, Spencer M., Italy: From Revolution to Republic, 1700 to the Present, 4th edn., Routledge, London & New York, 2018. Goodman, Jordan, The Rattlesnake: A Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea, Faber & Faber, London, 2005. Hanioğlu, M. Şükrü, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford, 2008. Loyal, Steven, ‘The French in Algeria, Algerians in France: Bourdieu, colonialism, and migration’, The Sociological Review, 57(3), 2009, 406-27. Lubbock, Adelaide, ‘Owen Stanley in the Pacific’, The Journal of Pacific History, 3, 1968, 47-63. Lubbock, Adelaide, Owen Stanley R.N, 1811-1850: Captain of the ‘Rattlesnake’, Heinemann, Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 5 Melbourne & London, 1968. Mansfield, Peter, A History of the Middle East, 4th edn., Penguin Books, London, 2013. McCarthy, G. J., ‘Stanley, Owen (1811-1850)’, Encyclopedia of Australian Science, 1993, modified 2006, accessed 28.09.2020: https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000793b.htm Miller, Susan Gilson, A History of Modern Morocco, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013. Moyal, Ann, ‘Owen Stanley and the Rattlesnake’, The National Library Magazine, June 2012, 8-11. O’Byrne, William R., A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty’s Navy, 3, John Murray, London, 1849, 1109. West, Francis, ‘Stanley, Owen (1811-1850)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 1967, accessed 24.08.2020: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stanley-owen-2692/text3767 Academia Letters, August 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Yianni Cartledge, yianni.cartledge@flinders.edu.au Citation: Cartledge, Y. (2021). Owen Stanley in the Mediterranean. Academia Letters, Article 3107. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3107. 6