"The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World" Roll 3, Section 34/44

[ The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World is viewed from right to left ]

Nuku Hiva was among the most popular ports of call in the Marquesas. It is famous as the place where Herman Melville deserted the ship Acushnet of Fairhaven in July of 1842.

In this scene two American whalers and a small fleet of French naval vessels lay at anchor in Taiohae Bay, called by mariners, Typee Bay. Melville took the title for his book Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (New York, 1846), from his experiences there. Among the events that Melville describes in Typee and that Russell emphasizes powerfully is the arrival of a French protectorate force. The frigate Reine Blanche arrived there in 1842 under the command of Rear Admiral Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars (1793-1864) in order to secure the islands for to better enable the activities of French Catholic missionaries. Russell paints the vessel as ship-of-the-line, but other whalemen accurately show it as a frigate. Note the petroglyph
of a ship’s hull on the face of the cliff at left. Such petroglyphs exist in many places in the Marquesas including one at Nuku Hiva of a sailing ship.