The Great Fall of Niagara (c.1838)

This short video clip shows The Great Fall of Niagara transforming under different lighting conditions.

No.7, Morgan’s Improved Protean Scenery, The Great Fall of Niagara RG 639

The Great Fall of Niagara, made in 1838 by artist W. Morgan from London, England, is a transparent lithograph mounted on construction paper.[1] This multi-layered, hand-coloured print depicts a vivid landscape scene of Niagara Falls. Protean means the ability to change easily. True to this definition, when a bright light is shone through the back of the print, the landscape scene is changed to reveal a depiction of an American cargo ship, the Caroline, set ablaze and about to plummet over the Canadian Niagara Falls. [2]

Rear- Admiral Drew was charged with the task of eliminating the Caroline after the British received intelligence that American rebels had taken possession of Navy Island, British territory.[3] Drew and his men took charge of the ship on American soil in the dead of night, took two lives, sent the remaining crew ashore, and set the ship ablaze and adrift. [4] Later, when Drew and his men returned to Navy Island, they found the rebels had retreated to American soil.[5] There are many different accounts of what happened that night, some say the Caroline went over the falls with the slaughtered crew aboard, others say it was marooned.[6] The absolute truth may never be known.

Lithographs, invented circa 1796, allowed easy duplication of images and print, and thus, was quickly adopted by the press as drawings could accompany print.[7] One could imagine how this lithograph could easily support the conflicting narrative each side of the conflict was trying to portray. The two narratives of the fate of The Caroline are portrayed through the effective use of protean imagery.

-Text by Elizabeth Peters (VISA 2P90)

*This image is part of the “Women, Water, and Words” exhibition that students in VISA 2P90 curated in the Winter 2024 semester.

Notes

[1] Anne Adams, “The Great Fall of Niagara,” Finding Aid. Brock University Digital Repository, March 28, 2018, https://dr.library.brocku.ca/handle/10464/13374?show=full.

[2] Adams

[3] Andrew Drew, A Narrative of the Capture and Destruction of the Steamer ‘Caroline’ and Her Descent over the Falls of Niagara on the Night of the 29th of December, 1837.  Spottiswoode & Co., New-Street Square, E.C.:London, 1864.

[4] J. E. Rea and Desmond Morton, “Caroline Affair,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 28, 2017, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/caroline

[5] Drew

[6] Howard Jones, “The Caroline Affair,” The Historian 38, no. 3 (1976): 492.

[7] Colta Ives, “Lithography in the Nineteenth Century,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History ( October 2004) https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lith/hd_lith.htm

Further Reading

Adams, Anne. “The Great Fall of Niagara.” Finding Aid, Brock University Digital Repository, March 28, 2018.

Drew, Andrew. A Narrative of the Capture and Destruction of the Steamer ‘Caroline’ and Her Descent over the Falls of Niagara on the Night of the 29th of December, 1837. Spottiswoode & Co., New-Street Square, E.C.:London, 1864.

Ives, Colta. “Lithography in the Nineteenth Century.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, October 2004. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lith/hd_lith.htm

Jones, Howard. “The Caroline Affair.” The Historian 38. no. 3 (1976): 485–502.

Rea, J. E., and Desmond Morton. “Caroline Affair.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 28, 2017. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/caroline