A Voyage of Discovery, Made under the Orders of the Admiralty, in His Majesty's Ships Isabella and Alexander
For the Purpose of Exploring Baffin's Bay, and Inquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage

Published in 1819, this is John Ross's controversial account of his 1818 Arctic voyage in search of the North-West Passage.

John Ross (Author)

9781108041522, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 December 2011

542 pages, 20 b/w illus. 16 colour illus. 3 maps
29.7 x 21 x 2.8 cm, 1.28 kg

Sir John Ross (1777–1856) was a Scottish naval officer and Arctic explorer. He joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine and distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1818, Ross was assigned to H.M.S. Isabella and commissioned to search for the North-West Passage. This book, published in 1819, describes the expedition, which was unsuccessful although it did discover new facts about Baffin Bay. Several of Ross's former officers disputed his account of the decision to turn back at Lancaster Sound, which he had mistakenly believed was impassable. The ensuing controversy affected the rest of Ross's career and made him unpopular with influential contemporaries including Sir John Barrow and William Edward Parry. It also soured relations with his young nephew James Clark Ross, who had accompanied him, and who in 1831, during a second eventful expedition with his uncle, identified the location of the magnetic North Pole.

Introduction
Explanations of sea terms used in icy seas
Official instructions
1. Sailing of the expedition from the river
2. Continuation of the voyage
3. Progress of the voyage up the Straits
4. Departure from Waygatt
5. Continued progress through the ice
6. The ships obliged to leave their moorings
7. The Arctic Highlands
8. Passage through the last barrier
9. Progress towards the North
10. Further progress to the southward
11. Continue our progress to the southward, exploring the west coast of Baffin's Bay
12. Proceedings off Cape Walsingham and Mount Raleigh
13. Proceedings of the ships at Shetland.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]