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Solar Eclipse of the Sun 9 May
1910 in Tasmania
Report of the “Solar Expedition to Port Davey,
Tasmania May 1910” gives the reader
detailed information.
Below I have given
a brief outline of the expedition and included three photographs of the corona
taken at Queenstown by the Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr. James Booton
(Plate 34). Also the drawing of the corona by Mr.W.H.Wesley from the
photographs taken by the Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr.James Booton and from
a positive copy of a photograph taken by Mr.Darnley Sargeant (Plate 35).
The line of the total eclipse touched no land
except Antarctic and Tasmania. The first was impossible to access. The
central line passed about 40 miles to the south of the island. The season
was winter, the country very mountainous, rainfall statistics high and the time
of the eclipse was within one hour of sunset, so that the sun's altitude was
only 7 or 8 degrees above the horizon. For these reasons no official expedition
was sent from England, nor from any other country except Australia, as the
chances of success were very small and the cost and time required to reach
Tasmania was very great. Many instruments were however lent by the Royal
Society in England.
Active preparations were commenced early
1909. It was extremely difficult to obtain any information about the
south coast of Tasmania, but an Australian expedition would go to Hixson Point,
Port Davey. 29 cases of instruments left England on 3 February 1910 and
arrived in Hobart 17 March 1910. They were insured for a total value of
1050 pounds. The setting up camp in Port Davey commenced on 9 April 1910 with
stores and equipment being delivered by "Wainui" for a one months
stay in an uninhabited and desolate locality.
The northern line of totality followed a line
from Zeehan on the west of Tasmania to Maria Island on the east coast, but
owing to the shortness of totality so far north of the central line, only sites
were considered that lay to the south of the latitude of Hobart. It could
hardly be foreseen that the only view of the eclipse would be from Queenstown,
near Macquarie Harbour, which lies well to the north of this line.
The observatory was about 600 yards from camp and
a path had to be cut through 2 foot high thick bush to the top of the
ridge. Another track was necessary from the landing place for the
instruments to the observatory, a distance of about a furlong. Gales blew day
after day making preparations extremely difficult. A fire broke out on 17 April
in straw within a packing box. It took several days before the fire was
finally extinguished, because peat once dry continued to burn below the surface
flaring up as it reached scorched trees.
On 9 May 1910 half an hour before totality the
instruments were ready as far as possible, and the observers took up their
respective positions. There was to be a countdown - 15 minutes before, ten
minutes before, two minutes before and the one minute for opening the slides. A
3 inch aperture visual telescope would be used and the image of the crescent
thrown on a sheet of cardboard behind the eyepiece. The call to
"Start" by view would continue until "Stop" was called.
After the eclipse was over all dark slides were
taken direct to the tent and everyone was to write an account of the
eclipse. At the last moment when everything was seen to be hopeless, only
one exposure was made. This would save the slides from damage and would
also increase the chance of results if there happened to be a small break in
the clouds. "Go" was a called and at the "5 seconds after"
everyone exposed a plate. Far down on the western horizon was a streak of brightness that moved
gradually up the sky. At about 200 seconds a rush of light came up from
the west, racing across the clouds, but it was impossible to say when it
reached the party. It was hoped they would obtain a snap of the crescent
sun before it sank below the horizon, but nothing resulted.
The official description of the eclipse as
follows: "Approaching the time of total phase the sky
was overcast by nimbus clouds, raining lightly but steadily. The colour
of the surrounding landscape was bluish-grey. At 130 seconds after the
commencement of the total phase a light break in the clouds showed in the
south-west (light Naples yellow in colour) and gradually extended across the
sky from S.W. to N.W. At 180 seconds after the commencement of the total
phase a general brightening developed suddenly and continued fitfully until the
end of totality. This fitful brightening towards the end of the total
phase was probably due to the varying density of the clouds, and is supported
by the fact that the rain ceased soon after the ending of the total phase, and
to a hazy sun being seen later through the thin clouds and through the break in
the western horizon a faint green colour developed in the cloud breaks, which
gradually faded as night developed".
The work of demolition began at one. By the
next morning the expedition party left the spot where they had worked in rain
and mud for over a month on perhaps the most inhospitable coast that exists on
a habitable land.
At Zeehan and Strahan the partial phase had been
seen in a clear sky, but not totality. At Queenstown, up in the mountains
above Macquarie Harbour, was the only place that had seen it all.
Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr J.Booton were
lucky enough to obtain some photographs of the corona, taken with a Thornton
Pickard half plate camera with the back combination of the lens removed, giving
a quarter inch image, and extremely good for so small a camera and without
clockwork. The exposures were about 2 seconds and the stop F22 and the
plates used were Imperial Special Rapid.
The
Queenstown correspondent of the "Sydney Mail" writes:
“On the day of the eclipse, heavy lowering
clouds enveloped the mountains, and hung down to the foot hills, so that even
much of a familiar landscape was not visible.
But, as if by appointment, a rift appeared, and quickly the grey gave
place to bright blue, and the sun descended into it like a jewelled ship gliding
into a calm sea. What a rush there was
for smoked or coloured glasses, which had been put by in the belief that they
would not be required. It was all so
unexpected that it came as a sudden and delightful surprise. There had been no wait, no anxiety as to
whether this, or that, or the other thing would transpire. It was simply the turning of an anticipated
disappointment into a complete realisation.
The unfortunate part about it was that camera had been left at home by
those who had made elaborate preparations.
Still, there were some who had their “picture-takers” with them, but
very few have since been reported as having obtained good results; probably the
occasion was too much for them, and they became too flurried”.
There is
an account of the eclipse by Mr.E.Carns Driffield, M.Aust.I.M.E.,
superintending engineer of the Mount Lyell railways, which has not previously
appeared in print:
“Even as late as
three o’clock in the afternoon, although the rain had then ceased, the outlook
was hopeless, but a friend and myself decided to climb to the top of the Flux
Quarry Hill and chance our luck, as it were.
The prospects were too gloomy to even take any instruments with us, and
the theodolite and even the smoked glass were agreeably surprised to see the
western sky rifting into broken cloud line, with every appearance of
improvement to follow.
Our hopes began to rise to higher pitch as the
light became stronger, indicating greater tenuity in the cloud veil, and in
less than a quarter of an hour we could just see the hazy outline of the sun
through the clouds, with about six digits, or nearly half the face from the
western limit eclipsed. Just then we
were (very fortunate for us) swelled by the boisterous advent of about a dozen
school children all equipped with coloured or smoked glass and copy books. We gladly availed ourselves of their generous
offer of the use of their glasses. With
all my instruments ready adjusted lying uselessly in my office in the valley
below, the situation had its lesson even to our more mature years.
The clouds became more detached and tenuous, and by 3.45 we were able to
obtain occasional glimpses of the sun quite unobsecured. Although about two-thirds of the disc was
then eclipsed there was very little perceptible diminution in the daylight,
which I attribute to the fact that the forenoon of the day had been so clouded
and dark that the dispersing clouds and brighter sun, although clouds just
below the sun, about 20 degrees long and 8 or 10 degrees across, and we hoped enthusiastically
that totality would occur in this space.
And as if by a miracle it did.
Slowly the sun descended out of the cloud banks
into this space, bursting into full view about 4.5. The sight from this out to
the end of totality, and for some time afterwards, was absolutely unobscured
and perfect, and never shall I forget the grandeur of it all. Steadily the light diminished as the moon’s
black disc gradually enveloped the luminous crescent, now but one digit in breadth. In appearance this crescent was like a
quivering, molten bath of quicksilver, and seemed to scintillate with prismatic
rays of light. The eastern limit of the
sun was gradually reduced to a glowing crescent band and totality ensured about
4.15. At this supreme moment the sight
was too enthralling to fully absorb and realise, much less to permit of any
adequate description being attempted.
The gaunt, fire-swept hills of Queenstown, with their black peat
covering, quivered in an awesome light; and the great mass of cloud horizon below
the sun glowed with indescribable tints and hues. The denser masses of cloud showed mainly in
purple tints, while the more tenuous rifts among them with salmon and orange
light like a myriad of subterranean fires.
The sepias of the hills were tinted with spectral colours not to be
described, and only to be seen to be understood. The air felt distinctly colder, and the
darkness was equal to a medium twilight.
Faces looked pale and ghostly, and the situation was weird in the
extreme. A solemnity fell upon the
little party.
We were too engrossed with the scene to observe
times correctly, and I questioned whether totality lasted more than two
minutes. In that brief interval how
eagerly we drank in the ravishing splendour before us. The moon’s disc appeared in an immense black
circle in the sky, set in an azure blue lake, surrounded on all sides by cloud
banks, each exhibiting a colour scheme of entrancing glory. Encircling the moon’s disc, intensely black,
was the beautiful pulsating chromosphere of the sun, emitting fluctuations of
yellow and orange coloured flame like rays, from which streamed in all
directions rays of multi-coloured light, delicate pink and orange
predominating. From the eastern limb, on
the upper half particularly long streamers, flexing strongly to the north, were
observable all through totality. The
streamers from the western limb were much shorter and of more uniform
totality. Without even the aid of a
field glass, one’s whole being was wrought with vexation at the inability to
pry more closely into these wonderful shafts of light.
While wrapt in silent contemplation of the
majestic grandeur before us, totality ended, and an apex of brillant dazzling
light shot suddenly from the sun’s western limb on its lower half just as if a gigantic
light had been suddenly switched on.
Having watched the moon’s disc gradually moving off the face of the sun
now setting behind the horizon clouds, we turned our steps homeward filled with
mixed feelings of joy at the good luck which had attended us, and of solemnity
at the majesty of the scene which will never be effaced from my memory”.
Description
of the Corona of 1910 by W.H.Wesley, Assistant Secretary, R.A.S:
The photographs from which the drawing has been
made were the following:
1. Four negatives taken by the Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr.J.Booton with
a Thornton-Pickard half plate triple extension camera with back combination of
lens removed. The exposure of one plate
is given as 2 seconds; the other plates had apparently similar exposures. Diameter of moon’s image 4mm.4.
2.
Positive copies of a photograph taken by Mr.Sargeant with a small camera
of short focus; the details of exposure are not given, but the great
deformation of the moon’s image caused by the diurnal motion shows that the
plate was exposed during the greater part of totality. The diameter of the moon’s image in the
direction unaffected by the diurnal motion is about1 mm. 5.
The negatives by Messrs.Macdougall and Booton are very sharply defined and give excellent
pictures, notwithstanding their small scale.
But their extension is very small; the corona in no part extends to more
than a fourth of the moon’s diameter from the limb. Mr.Sargeant’s minute photograph, on the other
hand, extends in parts considerably therefore simply drawn it in outline,
superposed on a drawing from the other photographs which show the inner
corona. On Mr.Sargeant’s plate the line
of the terrestrial landscape is shown, and this permits the picture to be
oriented with approximate correctness. The photograph showing the inner corona
agrees so well with the others that there is not much uncertainty about the
orientation.
The most striking feature of the corona shown on
the small extension plates is an unusually wide rift, arranged pretty
symmetrically about the South Pole, and extending for nearly 50 degrees along
the limb. Along this rift the corona is
almost absent in the short exposure plates – only the faintest indications are
given of the bases of the polar rays. In
Mr.Sargeant’s photograph this rift is entirely filled up to a height of nearly
a diameter, probably with the usual polar rays, but the over-exposed small
scale picture gives no indication of anything but the general mass.
The great southern rift is bounded on the east by
a well-marked mass, such as is frequently seen at the edge of a polar
rift. This mass forms the base of a fine
ray of a clearly synclinal character, extended in Mr.Sargeant’s photograph to
nearly one and half diameters from the limb, in direction not far from
radial. A well-marked gap separates this
great ray from the general equatorial mass on the east, which presents no very
distinctive gestures.
At the North Pole there is no rift corresponding
to that at the South, though the corona has somewhat less extension than in the
equatorial regions. The details on the
western side are not of a very well-marked character. The edge of the mass bounding the southern
rift on the west much more nearly approaches the tangential than the
corresponding mass on the east. In the
outer corona two or three broad, ill-defined, and somewhat parallel rays run
out to more than a diameter from the limb.
Comparing the corona of 1910 with that of 1909 it
is evident that the former shows fewer distinctive features. The corona of 1910 appears to belong to the
type associated with the period intermediate between the maximum and minimum of
solar activity. It much resembles the
corona of August 1896, as photographed by M.Hansky in Novaya Zemlya, but the
poles appear reversed, the North Pole of 1896 resembling the South Pole of
1910. The long ray on the south-east of the 1910 corona decidedly recalls the
similar but still longer streamer photographed by Hansky in 1896.
The most characteristic features in the 1910
corona are the unusually wide rift at the South Pole, without any corresponding
rift at the North, and the long ray, with its edge of double curvature,
extending from the synclinal group on the east of the great southern rift.
Plate 34 – Three photographs of the Corona.
Taken at Queenstown by the
Rev.L.S.Macdougall
and Mr.James Booton.
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| Photographs of Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun taken by Rev.L.S.Macdougall in Queenstown 9 May 1910 |
Plate 35 - Drawing of the Corona by
Mr.W.H.Wesley.
From the photographs taken by the
Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr.James Booton
and from a positive copy of the photograph by Mr.Darnley Sargeant.
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| Drawing of the Corona by Mr.W.H Wesley from photographs taken by Rev.L.S.Macdougall and Mr.D.Sargeant |
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| Photograph of Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun by Mr.D.Sargeant 9 May 1910 |
“Report to
the Hon.Minister of Education on the Total Solar Eclipse of May 9th,
1910, in Tasmania” by G F
Dodwell, B.A., F.R.A.S., Government Astronomer for South Australia.
Included in the Report are 5 photographs of the
Total Phase taken by Rev.L.S.Macdougall
at Queenstown, Tasmania and a photograph of the Drawing of the Corona by Mr.
E.C.Driffield.
Rev.L.S.Macdougall
sent his negatives to England for examination and discussion. Mr.Macdougall
writes: “I exposed four plates during the total phase, each for two seconds, at
f22, in a Thornton-Pickard half-plate camera, working at full (triple)
extension, with a back combination of the lense removed. The plates used were Imperial special rapid
……………”
Mr.Macdougall
writes as follows “Too much praise cannot be given to Mr.Driffield for this
production, and I am inclined to think that it puts out of court any other
attempts to make a drawing to represent one’s visual impressions of the
eclipse, as it would not only be hopeless to make a better or more faithful
representation; but anyone who saw the eclipse and also saw Mr.Driffield’s
drawing would, in any attempt of his own to portray the scene, be decidedly
influenced, consciously or unconsciously by Mr.Driffield’s work. There are but two crititicisms I have to
offer; one is that the photo fails to give any adequate representation of the
colour which Mr.Driffield attempted in the original with marked success, and
the other is that in the terminals of the upper prominences the impression
given by the drawing is one of velocity away from the centre, whereas the
impression intended to be conveyed is rather one of scintillation. Apart from this I can offer no suggestions of
alteration to bring the drawing into greater faithfulness to the marvellous
sight that was vouchsafed to us”.
Rev.L.S.Macdougall
has written in his diaries his own record of the total eclipse of the sun and
of particular interest are entries on 9 May 1910, 8 June 1910, 18 July 1910, 6
October 1910, 22 November 1910, and 23 February 1911.
On 9 May 1910 I (
Rev.L.S.Macdougall) paid a visit to Jim Booton, a young amateur
photographer whom I had promised to help.
It was their intention to climb one of the neighbouring hills in the
afternoon and photograph the total eclipse of the sun, but the outlook all
morning seemed likely……
Shortly before
4pm the weather seemed inclined to break, and we decided to take our chance of
seeing the eclipse by climbing one of the hills to the south west of
Queenstown, overlooking Howard’s Plains.
And then, behold, as though by the deliberate intervention of a Power
unseen the clouds and wintry weather were brushed aside and we had a gorgeous
view of what is probably the grandest of all celestial phenomena; the Total
Eclipse of the Sun…….
We reached the
summit of the hill at about 3.45pm when the moon was about midway across the
sun’s disc.
Some minutes were given to
the adjustment of the camera, a Thornton-Pickard, which we used with full
extension and a single lens, and obtained an image on the focussing screen
about 1/4in in diameter.
We gave four
exposures during the phase of totality, each of about 2 seconds at f22…….The
scene was indescribably grand.
The
clouds opened like a great curtain and rolled away to right and left of the
landscape, remaining in sight about the horizon to reflect the marvellous
colours which manifested themselves at mid eclipse.
The meniscus of the sun gradually became
smaller as the moon rolled on, and went out suddenly, leaving us in the most
uncanny sort of twilight.
Being so near
the edge of the area of totality it did not become sufficiently dark to see
more than two stars, probably Mercury and Alpha Tauri.
With us the total phase lasted only about two
minutes and the prominences of the corona extended about two diameters all
round.
The emergence of the sun when the
total phase was over was the grandest sight of the whole event.
It came forth like a great jewel from
concealment.
Such times as these make
one sigh for the pen of a Hebrew seer or a writer of Homeric poems.
We descended the hill a few minutes after the
total phase was over and proceeded at once to develop the plates (Imperial
Special Rapid).
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| Rev.L.S.Macdougall's drawing of Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun in his diary 9 May 1910 |
On 26 May 1910 Leslie Macdougall and James Booton received a letter from Mr.McClean, leader of the Astronomical Party that went to Port Davey to view the Eclipse. It reads:
Menzies Hotel,
Melbourne
23 May 1910
Thank you so much for the Eclipse photographs. I cannot say how delighted I am to have them: after our miserable failure at Port Davey. When examined under a glass they appear to have very minute and accurate detail, and on that account I am wondering whether you would feel inclined to part with any of the negatives at your own price. I only hope that if you do not wish to that you will not feel insulted by my offer, which is made with the sole desire to be able to examine the details and if possible tabulate them. They would of course carry your names, wherever and whenever they appeared, either in print or as lantern slides.
If you can do it, best for my purposes would be those that show the greatest length of streamers, provided that the image is a definite circle.
It would also be of great use to use if you could mark which was the top of the plate, so that I may know the directions of the streamers. In one print the sun is, I think, just about to re-appear, and this helps a good deal.
My address in London is F.K.McClean, Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdopm, 166 Piccadilly, London.
If there is anything I can do towards the Church, I shall be delighted to do it, as one good turn deserves another: and you certainly have done me one.
Yours very sincerely,
F.K.McClean.
We arranged to take some prints off and forwarded by the next English mail.
On 8 June 1910
I (Rev.L.S.Macdougall) spent
the greater part of this morning printing off as many postcards of the eclipse
photos, and in the afternoon Jim Booton called and we packed the negatives
securely and despatched them to Mr.F.K.McClean at his London address, The Royal
Aero Club of the United Kingdom, 166 Piccadilly, London. Our photo was the only
available evidence, as none of the astronomical parties had succeeded in seeing
the eclipse at all, or in obtaining any records of it. This of course increases greatly the
scientific value of our photograph, a copy of which has been requested by the
Government Astronomer of South Australia.
On 18 June 1910 I (
Rev.L.S.Macdougall) paid a formal call upon Mr.E.Carns Driffield,
M.Inst.C.E.Eng., the Superintending Engineer of the Mount Lyell Railways.
He it was who made a brilliant drawing of the
Solar Eclipse of last May, which I attested last Tuesday and we had a very
interesting chat about the matter.
He
presented me with a photo of his drawing, with the signatures of the
co-observers attesting, and also gave me a complimentary pass over the haulage
of North Lyell, whereof I availed myself at 4pm.
 |
| Mr.E.Carns Driffield's drawing of Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun on 9 May 1910 with co-observers attesting to its accuracy |
On 6 October 1910 I (
Rev.L.S.Macdougall) received an acknowledgement of the receipt of
the negatives of the total eclipse of the sun last May, together with a cheque
for fifty pounds for the same.
This was
very much more than I expected would be received, and when the amount can be
collected one third of it should go to the Trustees of the Queenstown Methodist
Church.
On 22 November 1910 I (Rev.L.S.Macdougall) wrote a letter to G.F.Dodwell Esq. M.A.,
Government Astronomer of South Australia, thanking his for his present of a
copy of his elaborate printed report of the Solar Eclipse of 9 May 1910, which
contains verbation extracts from my previous letters to him, together with
prints from the negatives that J.Booton and I secured of the Eclipse.
On 23 February 1911 I (Rev.L.S.Macdougall) I had a
consultation with my senior Circuit Steward over the present state of the
Circuit Fund, which has recently received a donation of seven pounds ten
shillings, being half of the sum of fifteen pounds which came to me as my share
of the cheque for fifty pounds that was received from Mr.F.K.McClean for the
four negatives of the Solar Eclipse that were taken by Jim Booton and myself
last May. The remaining seven pounds ten shillings of this amount goes to the
Trust Fund of the Queenstown Methodist Church.
"Waverley Gazette", Wednesday 20 October 1976:
"He eclipsed them all" - An article written at the time Melbourne was to experience a total solar eclipse of the sun on 23 October 1976.
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| This article was in the "Waverley Gazette" at the time Melbourne was to experience a Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun on 23 October 1976 - 66 years after Rev.Leslie Macdougall earned worldwide fame for himself, by being the only man on the planet to successfully photograph the solar eclipse on 9 May 1910. |
"The Age", Friday 22 October 1976:
"66 Years later, nothing new under the sun".
Mrs Beatrice Macdougall was one of the few people who knows what the 1910 solar eclipse looked like. She can't remember the event but she has a rare photograph taken by her late husband. The Rev.Leslie Macdougall, a Methodist Minister was the only person to successfully photograph the eclipse from Queenstown, Tasmania.
The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom, which had tried unsuccessfully to take pictures of the eclipse, later bought Mr.Macdougall's negatives for 50 pounds.
Mrs. Macdougall, of High Street Road, Glen Waverley, is [pictured with a photograph of her late husband and his diary entry of the eclipse.
She will be watching tomorrow afternoon's eclipse in safety on television.
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| Beatrice Macdougall with her husband's diary entry of the total solar eclipse of the sun on 9 May 1910 |
If you wish to contact the author Joy Olney (grand-daughter of Leslie Macdougall), please email: joyolney@gmail.com
