EARLY UNPUBLISHED DRAWINGS OF AMERICAN BIRDS: ABOVE, "CAPRIMULGUS VOCIFERUS. WHIPPOORWILL FEMELLE. A. W. MAY 7TH, 1812. PENNSA. NO. II"; BELOW, "ROBIN A. WILLSON. TURDUS MIGRATORIUS. LITORNE DU CANADA—MALE—BUFFON—DRAWN BY J. J. AUDUBON JANY. 4, 1807—NEW YORK. NO. 102."
Published by courtesy of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes.
Audubon returned to London with his family early in 1836, visiting Newcastle, York, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield by the way, and took a house at Number 4, Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square. As Mrs. Audubon's health was anything but good, they were fortunate in having as a neighbor in this street an eminent surgeon, Benjamin Phillips,[130] and this friend was also a subscriber to The Birds of America. "Were I to mention," said Audubon,
the many occasions on which he has aided me by his advice and superior knowledge of the world, you would be pleased to find so much disinterestedness in human nature. His professional aid too, valuable as it has proved to us, and productive of much inconvenience to him, has been rendered without reward, for I could never succeed in inducing him to consider us his patients, although for upwards of two years he never passed a day without seeing my wife.
In the spring of 1836 Audubon's two sons made a tour of France and Italy; on the 9th of March he wrote to Harris that they expected to leave England in a week, be gone three and a half months, visit Paris, Rome and Messina, and return by way of Marseilles and Paris. With the passage of 1836 he had completed 70 numbers, of 350 plates, of his larger work, leaving but 85 plates yet to be engraved. Though anxious to see this greatest of his tasks brought to an end, he still looked with longing eyes to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, and began preparations for his last journey to obtain materials and subscribers in the United States.
CHAPTER XXXI
THIRD AMERICAN TOUR, 1836-1837
In New York harbor—Collections from the Far West—Audubon's efforts to secure them—Return to Boston—Friendship of Daniel Webster—Renewed efforts to obtain the Nuttall-Townsend collection—Expedition to the west coast of Florida—Deferred governmental aid—Another winter with Bachman—Overland journey to New Orleans—On board the Crusader—Mistaken for pirates—With Harris and his son explores the Gulf Coast—The Republic of Texas—Visit to its capital and president—Meeting in Charleston—Marriage of his son—Their return to England.
Audubon left London with his son, John, July 30, 1836, and on the second day of August sailed from Portsmouth on the packet Gladiator, bound for New York. Two hundred and sixty live birds had preceded them to the ship, while three dogs came as a present from the Earl of Derby, and "a brace of tailless cats from our friend George Thackeray, D.D., provost of King's College": all had suffered somewhat from lack of care, but the dogs, one of which was sent to John Bachman of Charleston, and some of the birds crossed the Atlantic in safety. Five weeks were spent at sea; when the Navesink Highlands at last hove into view the welcome news spread rapidly over the ship; rockets were sent up later to attract a pilot, and when anchor was grounded on American soil, Audubon confessed that he cried like a child and devoutly thanked God for their preservation. He continued:
All was now bustle and mutual congratulations; our commander was praised for his skill by some, and others praised his whisky, which the waiters handed about, and the night was nearly spent in revelry; but John and myself retired at two o'clock.... As a gleam of daylight appeared, my eyes searched through the hazy atmosphere to catch a glimpse of the land, and gradually Staten Island opened to my view; then the boat of the custom-house appeared, and soon he boarded us, arranged the sailors and passengers on deck, and called their names. Then followed breakfast, and soon another boat, with a yellow flag flying, landed the health officer, and there being no sickness on board, myself and John returned to Staten Island in the doctor's boat, and were taken by the steamer Hercules to the city.[131]