Old drawing of Guanabara Bay (1843)

In 1843, the captain of a Dutch ship stationed in Guanabara Bay, drew the Sugarloaf Mountain with the Santa Cruz Fortress.

• Handwritten letter, with a drawing from the captain of a Dutch ship parked in Guanabara Bay.
• One sheet, front and back.
• 15 cm x 25 cm.
• In Dutch.
• Rio de Janeiro, December 1843.
• Fragile paper.
• Unique piece.

The text is part of a missing in-flight newspaper, which we translated into English. It has days, times, meteorological indications and observations of maritime activity in Guanabara Bay.

Some highlighted excerpts, translated from Dutch to Portuguese

(...) The North American frigate Brandywine and Congress, the English corvette Juno and the steamship Hydra. The Russian schooner Baikal, the Brazilian frigate Cafregua and two small smooth-deck corvettes and also the English ship for sick and slaves Cressent (...).

(...) He greeted the Brazilian government with 21 shots and N. Amer with 11 shots, which were returned (...)

(...) On December 6th, we celebrated in the usual way the birthday of King William (...) our venerable king, the hero of Waterloo, and long live the king!!! He fired 199 shots that day, the N. Americ was kind enough to fire 35 shots in the afternoon, the other ships fired 21.

Together with the São João Fortress and the Tamandaré da Laje Fort, the Santa Cruz Fortress constituted the main defensive structure of the bay, the city and the port of Rio de Janeiro, during the period of colonial Brazil and Imperial Brazil.

Records from this time, in Guanabara Bay, are rarely available to the public, and even less to collectors. This document written 180 years ago, allows us to imagine the activity of the time, at the end of the year 1848. Including the slave trade and the extensive use of cannon fire to communicate... or celebrate the birthday of King William I of Germany , hero of the famous battle of Waterloo, the last of the French emperor Napoleon. The icing on the cake: the drawing of the Sugar Loaf behind the Santa Cruz Fortress, two important symbols of Rio de Janeiro to this day.