Joseph Avery stranded on rocks in the Niagara River

Three men boating in the Niagara River were overwhelmed by the river's strong current, lost control of their boat, and crashed into a rock. The current carried two men immediately over the Falls to their deaths. The daguerreotype shows the third man, stranded on a log which had jammed between two rocks. He weathered the current for eighteen hours before succumbing to the river. The image is an early example of a news photograph.
Case: central floral motif surrounded by scrolls.
Purchase; 1973; (DLC/PP-1973:230).
Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress).