Leaving No Stone Unturned: The Stanley Expediton to the Faroe Islands and Iceland in 1789

The paper examines the journals of the Stanley Expedition to the Faroe Islands and Iceland in 1789. Led by Sir John Stanley, later the first Baron Stanley of Alderley, the scientific expedition sought to gain better knowledge of the islands north of the British Isles. Upon reaching the Faroe Islands, the members of the expedition were especially fascinated by the mountains, cliffs and rocks. Their experiences combined an awe of the sublime with an ambition to conquer, climb the highest peaks, and take notes of useful minerals and botany, positioning their efforts within the framework of British imperialism.

The Stanely-expedition was not epoch making, but certainly “epoch marking” (Wawn 1981). Observations from the expedition are preserved in three separate diaries, published in 1970 to 1977, offering a unique opportunity to view the same landscapes and activities through three distinct perspectives. Aesthetic experiences of the sublime and wondrous and an interest in minerals such as zeolite form a matrix of ideas tied to colonialism, rising capitalism, the Enlightenment, and notions of untouched nature.

The diaries also include sketches of islands, mountains and stone columns, sometimes described as "Gothic". Of particular interest to this paper are the descriptions of the climb up what was then considered the highest mountain in the Faroe Islands.

The approach in the paper is attached to the concept of curiosity, for instance dealt with by Barbara Benedict in her book Curiosity. A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry (2001). Members of the Stanley expedition to the North were not only struck with wonder, rather they were curious and very busy in seeking for information and all kinds of curious details, especially stones, but their observations were not structured, they were interacting, touching, collecting – in all directions.

The diaries feature tropes of mastery, spatial appropriation, and aesthetic appreciation, offering a lens through which to explore the convergence of exploration, imperial ambition, and artistic representation.