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James Clark Ross

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44-512: Sir James Clark Ross DCL FRS FLS FRAS (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer of both the northern and southern polar regions. In the Arctic , he participated in two expeditions led by his uncle, John Ross , and in four led by William Edward Parry : in the Antarctic , he led his his own expedition from 1839 to 1843. Ross

88-468: A Hudson's Bay Company outpost 970 km (600 mi) to the southwest. Subsequent expeditions up until the late 1980s, including autopsies of crew members, revealed that their canned rations may have been tainted by both lead and botulism . Oral reports by local Inuit that some of the crew members resorted to cannibalism are supported by evidence of cut marks and pot polish on the skeletal remains of crew members found on King William Island during

132-427: A Northwest Passage in 1818 aboard Isabella . Between 1819 and 1827 Ross took part in four Arctic expeditions under William Edward Parry , taking particular interest in magnetism and natural history. This was also where he served as midshipman with Francis Crozier , who would later become his close friend and second-in-command. From 1829 to 1833 Ross again served under his uncle on John's second Arctic voyage. It

176-644: A further permanent station with the help of governor John Franklin before waiting for summer. Ross crossed the Antarctic Circle on 1 January 1841. Shortly after, he discovered the Ross Sea and Victoria Land , charting 900 km (560 mi) of new coastline, reaching Possession Island on 12 January and Franklin Island on 27 January (which Ross named after John Franklin). He then reached Ross Island , later named after him by Robert F. Scott , with

220-632: A punitive expedition that included the Raid on Alexandria , the Battle of Bladensburg , and the Burning of Washington . Under the command of John Sheridan , she took part in the bombardment of Stonington, Connecticut , on 9–12 August 1814. She also fought in the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814 and participated in the bombardment of Fort McHenry ; the latter attack inspired Francis Scott Key to write

264-434: A wreck close to Terror ' s description had been located on the southern coast of King William Island in the middle of Terror Bay ( 68°54′N 98°56′W  /  68.900°N 98.933°W  / 68.900; -98.933  ( Terror Bay ) ), at a depth of 69–79 ft (21–24 m). The remains of the ships are designated a National Historic Site of Canada with the exact location withheld to preserve

308-562: Is a lake with two islands, named after the ships Terror and Erebus . Ross remained an officer in the Royal Navy for the rest of his life and was subsequently promoted several times, his final rank being Rear-Admiral of the Red awarded in August 1861. Ross died at Aston Abbotts on 3 April 1862, five years after his wife. They are buried together in the parish churchyard of St. James

352-489: Is entitled 'One of James Ross's foxes'). Doctor of Civil Law Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 948054631 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:40:23 GMT HMS Terror (1813) HMS Terror

396-717: The Antarctic Peninsula . The next winter, the expedition overwintered in the Falkland Islands before returning to survey the Antarctic Peninsula over the summer of 1842–1843. Ross attempted to penetrate south at about 55° W, and explored the eastern side of what is now known as James Ross Island , discovering and naming Snow Hill Island and Seymour Island . Ross reported that Admiralty Sound appeared to him to have been blocked by glaciers at its southern end. The expedition's main aim

440-529: The Boothia Peninsula was an island or a peninsula. Terror was trapped by ice near Southampton Island , and did not reach Repulse Bay. At one point, the ice forced her 12 m (39 ft) up the face of a cliff. She was trapped in the ice for ten months. In the spring of 1837, an encounter with an iceberg further damaged the ship. She nearly sank on her return journey across the Atlantic, and

484-682: The Ross Sea twice, and sailing through the Weddell Sea southeast of the Falkland Islands . The dormant volcano Mount Terror on Ross Island was named after the ship by the expedition commander. Before leaving on the Franklin expedition , both Erebus and Terror underwent heavy modifications for the journey. They were both outfitted with steam engines, consisting of former London and Greenwich Railway steam locomotives . Rated at 25  hp (19 kW), each could propel its ship at 4  kn (7.4 km/h). The pair of ships were among

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528-652: The dip circle during the survey; anomalous results had been discovered by Ross in 1835 in Westbourne Green . In 1838, Ross completed magnetic observations at 12 different stations throughout Ireland. The survey was completed in 1838; some supplementary measurements by Robert Were Fox were also used. On 8 April 1839, Ross was given orders to command an expedition to Antarctica for the purposes of 'magnetic research and geographical discovery'. Between September 1839 and September 1843, Ross commanded HMS  Erebus on his own Antarctic expedition and charted much of

572-462: The Arctic to the nearest Hudson's Bay Company trading post. The location of the wreckage, and evidence in the wreckage of anchor usage, indicates continued use, raising the possibility that some of the sailors had attempted to re-man the ship and sail her home (or elsewhere), possibly on orders from Crozier. On 23 October 2017 it was announced by British Defence Minister Sir Michael Fallon that

616-676: The British government would be giving Terror and Erebus to Canada, retaining only a few relics and any gold, along with the right to repatriate any human remains. In 2018, Terror and Erebus were gifted to Canada and the Inuit , in care of the Inuit Heritage Trust, by the government of the United Kingdom. This includes all the remaining artifacts. Although the exact location has not been released, Nancy Anilniliak,

660-1196: The Field Unit Superintendent of the Nunavut Field Unit, has restricted access to an approximately 10 km × 5 km (6.2 mi × 3.1 mi) rectangular area in Terror Bay. The area runs from Point E ( 68°54′25.45″N 98°59′42.07″W  /  68.9070694°N 98.9950194°W  / 68.9070694; -98.9950194  ( point E ) ) to Point F ( 68°54′25.24″N 98°51′29.08″W  /  68.9070111°N 98.8580778°W  / 68.9070111; -98.8580778  ( point F ) ) to Point G ( 68°48′46.23″N 98°51′31.25″W  /  68.8128417°N 98.8586806°W  / 68.8128417; -98.8586806  ( point G ) ) to Point H ( 68°48′46.44″N 98°59′42.15″W  /  68.8129000°N 98.9950417°W  / 68.8129000; -98.9950417  ( point H ) ). In August 2019, taking advantage of "exceptionally co-operative" weather conditions, Parks Canada conducted 48 dives over

704-538: The Great. Ross, played by British actor Richard Sutton , is a secondary character in the 2018 AMC television series The Terror , portrayed in a fictionalised version of his 1848 search for Franklin's lost expedition , as well as in the 2007 Dan Simmons novel on which the series is based. Ross is also mentioned continually by Jules Verne in his novel The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (for example, chapter XXV

748-683: The continent's coastline. Captain Francis Crozier was second-in-command of the expedition, commanding HMS  Terror , with senior lieutenant Archibald McMurdo . Support for the expedition had been arranged by Francis Beaufort , hydrographer of the Navy and a member of several scientific societies. On the expedition was gunner Thomas Abernethy and ship's surgeon Robert McCormick , as well as Joseph Dalton Hooker , who had been invited along as assistant ship's surgeon. Erebus and Terror were bomb vessels —an unusual type of warship named after

792-449: The course of seven days to Terror , 3D-mapping the wreck and searching the interior with ROVs . The team was able to map out ninety per cent of Terror ' s lower deck, but were unable to access Crozier's cabin due to the buildup of sediment. Despite this, Crozier's cabin was considered the best preserved space in the lower deck, and Parks Canada has expressed the hope that written materials may be found there. The planned exploration of

836-775: The crew's sojourn in Rathmullan are held in the Royal Museums Greenwich collection. Back subsequently published a complete account of this voyage right up to the decommissioning of Terror in Chatham. In 1839 Terror was assigned to a voyage to the Antarctic along with Erebus under the overall command of James Clark Ross . Francis Crozier was commander of Terror on this expedition, as well as second-in-command to Ross. The expedition spanned three seasons from 1840 to 1843 during which Terror and Erebus made three forays into Antarctic waters, traversing

880-699: The east and west, but never entirely navigated. It was planned to last three years. The expedition sailed from Greenhithe , Kent , on 19 May 1845, and the ships were last seen entering Baffin Bay in August 1845. The disappearance of the Franklin expedition set off a massive search effort in the Arctic and the broad circumstances of the expedition's fate were revealed during a series of expeditions between 1848 and 1866. Both ships had become icebound and were abandoned by their crews, all of whom died of exposure and starvation while trying to trek overland to Fort Resolution ,

924-579: The first Royal Navy ships to have steam-powered engines and screw propellers. Twelve days' supply of coal was carried. Iron plating was added fore and aft on the ships' hulls to make them more resistant to pack ice , and their decks were cross-planked to distribute impact forces. Along with Erebus , Terror was stocked with supplies for their expedition, which included among other items: two tons of tobacco , 8,000 tins of preserves , and 7,560 L (1,660 imp gal; 2,000 US gal) of liquor. Terror ' s library had 1,200 books, and

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968-499: The late 20th century. On 15 August 2008, Parks Canada , an agency of the Government of Canada , announced a CAD $ 75,000 six-week search, deploying the icebreaker CCGS  Sir Wilfrid Laurier with the goal of finding the two ships. The search was also intended to strengthen Canada's claims of sovereignty over large portions of the Arctic . Attempts were also undertaken in 2010, 2011, and 2012, all of which failed to locate

1012-543: The mid-1830s, Terror was refitted as a polar exploration vessel. Her design as a bomb ship meant she had an unusually strong framework to resist the recoil of her heavy mortars; thus it was presumed she could withstand the pressure of polar sea ice , as well. In 1836, command of Terror was given to Captain George Back for an Arctic expedition to Hudson Bay . The expedition aimed to enter Repulse Bay , where it would send out landing parties to ascertain whether

1056-669: The mortar bombs they were designed to fire and constructed with extremely strong hulls, to withstand the recoil of the heavy weapons. The ships were selected for the Antarctic mission as being able to resist thick ice, as proved true in practice. En route to the Southern Ocean , Ross established magnetic measurement stations in Saint Helena , Cape Town , and Kerguelen before arriving in Hobart in early 1840 and establishing

1100-408: The northeast tip of Somerset Island where he was frozen in at Port Leopold . In the spring, he and Leopold McClintock explored the west coast of the island by sledge. He recognized Peel Sound but thought it too ice-choked for Franklin to have used it. In fact, Franklin had used it in 1846 when the extent of sea ice had been atypically low. The next summer he tried to reach Wellington Channel but

1144-404: The outer deck was pivotal in identifying the ship; it was located in the same location where the smokestack from Terror ' s locomotive engine had been installed. The wreck was nearly 100 km (62 mi) south of where historians thought her final resting place was, calling into question the previously accepted account of the fate of the sailors, that they died while trying to walk out of

1188-523: The poem that eventually became known as " The Star-Spangled Banner ". In January 1815, still under Sheridan's command, Terror was involved in the Battle of Fort Peter and the attack on St. Marys, Georgia . After the war, Terror was laid up until March 1828, when she was recommissioned for service in the Mediterranean Sea . She was removed from active service when she underwent repairs for damage suffered near Lisbon , Portugal . In

1232-674: The ship's berths were heated via ducts that connected them to the stove. Their voyage to the Arctic was with Sir John Franklin in overall command of the expedition in Erebus , and Terror again under the command of Captain Francis Crozier . The expedition was ordered to gather magnetic data in the Arctic Archipelago and complete a crossing of the Northwest Passage , which had already been charted from both

1276-486: The ships' remains. On 8 September 2014, it was announced that the wreckage of one of Franklin's ships was found on 7 September using a remotely operated underwater vehicle recently acquired by Parks Canada. On 1 October 2014, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the remains were that of Erebus . On 12 September 2016, a team from the Arctic Research Foundation announced that

1320-560: The successful Ross expedition to the Antarctic of 1839 to 1843, and Sir John Franklin 's ill-fated attempt to force the Northwest Passage in 1845, during which she was lost with all hands along with HMS  Erebus . On 12 September 2016, the Arctic Research Foundation announced that the wreck of Terror had been found in Nunavut 's Terror Bay , off the southwest coast of King William Island . The wreck

1364-800: The volcanoes Mount Erebus and Mount Terror , which were named for the expedition's vessels. They sailed for 250 nautical miles (460 km) along the edge of the low, flat-topped ice shelf they called variously the Barrier or the Great Ice Barrier, later named the Ross Ice Shelf in his honour. After being forced to overwinter in Tasmania , Ross returned to the Ross Sea in December 1841 before travelling east past Marie Byrd Land to

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1408-452: The wreck in just 2.5 hours. According to Louie Kamookak, a resident of nearby Gjoa Haven and a historian on the Franklin expedition, Parks Canada had ignored the stories of locals that suggested that the wreck of Terror was in her namesake bay, despite many modern stories of sightings by hunters and from airplanes. The wreck was found in excellent condition, her decks and interior spaces largely intact. A wide exhaust pipe that rose from

1452-535: The wrecks and prevent looting. Sammy Kogvik, an Inuit hunter and member of the Canadian Rangers who joined the crew of the Arctic Research Foundation's Martin Bergmann , recalled an incident from seven years earlier in which he encountered what appeared to be a mast jutting from the ice. With this information, the ship's destination was changed from Cambridge Bay to Terror Bay, where researchers located

1496-763: Was a specialised warship and a newly developed bomb vessel constructed for the Royal Navy in 1813. She participated in several battles of the War of 1812 , including the Battle of Baltimore with the bombardment of Fort McHenry (as mentioned in The Star-Spangled Banner : "And the Rockets' red glare, the Bombs bursting in air"). She was converted into a polar exploration ship two decades later, and participated in George Back 's Arctic expedition of 1836–1837,

1540-696: Was armed with two heavy mortars and ten cannon , and was launched in June 1813. Terror saw service in the War of 1812 against the United States , during which the ships of the North America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy blockaded the Atlantic ports of the United States and launched amphibious raids from its base in Bermuda , leading up to the 1814 Chesapeake campaign ,

1584-634: Was blocked by ice and returned to England. Ultimately every member of Franklin's expedition perished. Ross married Ann Coulman in 1843. A blue plaque marks Ross's home in Eliot Place, Blackheath, London . His closest friend was Francis Crozier, with whom he sailed many times. He also lived in the ancient House of the Abbots of St. Albans in Buckinghamshire . In the gardens of the Abbey there

1628-651: Was born in London, the son of George Ross and nephew of John Ross , under whom he entered the Royal Navy on 5 April 1812. Ross was an active participant in the Napoleonic Wars , being present at an action where HMS Briseis , commanded by his uncle, captured Le Petit Poucet (a French privateer) on 9 October 1812. Ross then served successively with his uncle on HMS Actaeon and HMS Driver . Ross participated in John's unsuccessful first Arctic voyage in search of

1672-540: Was discovered 92 km (57 mi) south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned, and some 50 km (31 mi) from the wreck of HMS Erebus , discovered in September 2014. HMS Terror was a Vesuvius -class bomb ship built over two years at the Davy shipyard in Topsham in south Devon , for the Royal Navy. Her deck was 31 m (102 ft) long, and the ship measured 325 tons burthen . The vessel

1716-631: Was during this trip that a small party led by James Ross (including Thomas Abernethy ) located the position of the north magnetic pole on 1 June 1831, on the Boothia Peninsula in the far north of Canada, and James Ross personally planted the British flag at the pole. It was on this trip, too, that Ross charted the Beaufort Islands, later renamed Clarence Islands by his uncle. Ross then served as supernumerary-commander of HMS Victory in Portsmouth for 12 months. On 28 October 1834 Ross

1760-458: Was in a sinking condition by the time Back sailed her into Lough Swilly , before beaching her at Rathmullan , Co. Donegal, Ireland on 21 September. The admiralty dispatched the shipwright, William McPherson Rice, to refloat and repair Terror sufficiently to enable her to sail to the naval shipyard at Chatham in Kent, where full repairs were carried out. Correspondence describing the repairs and

1804-653: Was probably crushed in the ice in December 1835. He returned to Hull in September 1836 with all his crew in good health. From 1835 to 1839, except for his voyage with Cove, he was one of the principal participants in the British Magnetic Survey, a magnetic survey of Great Britain , with Edward Sabine , John Phillips and Humphrey Lloyd . This also included some work on geomagnetic measurements in Ireland in 1834–1835, working with Sabine and Lloyd. In 1837, Ross assisted in T. C. Robinson's improvement of

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1848-669: Was promoted to captain. In December 1835 he offered his services to the Admiralty to resupply 11  whaling ships which had become trapped in Baffin Bay . They accepted his offer, and he set sail in HMS Cove in January 1836. The crossing was difficult, and by the time he had reached the last known position of the whalers in June, all but one had managed to return home. Ross found no trace of this last vessel, William Torr , which

1892-578: Was sent on one of three expeditions to find John Franklin. Franklin's second in command was Ross's close friend Francis Crozier. The other expeditions sent to find Franklin were the Rae–Richardson Arctic expedition and the expedition aboard HMS Plover and HMS  Herald through the Bering Strait . He was given command of HMS  Enterprise , accompanied by HMS  Investigator . Because of heavy ice in Baffin Bay he only reached

1936-608: Was to find the position of the south magnetic pole . While Ross failed to reach the pole, he was able to determine its location. The expedition also produced the first accurate magnetic maps of the Antarctic. Ross's ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843. He was awarded the Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations in 1843, knighted in 1844, and elected to the Royal Society in 1848. On 31 January 1848, Ross

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