James Clark Ross

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James Clark Ross, by John R. Wildman, 1833–34, National Maritime Museum, London

Sir James Clark Ross (born April 15, 1800 in London , † April 3, 1862 at Aylesbury ) was an English explorer and navigator .

Live and act

Mount Erebus and Mount Terror

Born the son of a wealthy businessman, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy at the age of 12 , probably influenced by the participation of his uncle John Ross , who at the time was a young naval officer who was taking part in the Napoleonic Wars . Under the beneficial influence of his uncle, he was soon installed as a midshipman and mate , and when he was finally given command of an expedition to search for the legendary Northwest Passage and explore the Arctic Sea in 1818 , James took part as a midshipman. Even after their success because of a misjudgment by his uncle - he thought Lancastersund was a bay - remained severely limited, James took part in several other polar expeditions from 1819-1825 under the leadership of his second officer William Edward Parry . In doing so, he was able to make a name for himself through efficiency and, in particular, through independently carrying out scientific investigations and sled exploration, and gained important insights into research and survival in the polar regions. He was promoted to lieutenant for his services , and it was there that he met his longtime friend and confidante Francis Crozier .

After the summer of 1826, which he had spent south of the Arctic Circle for the first time in seven years , he took part in another unsuccessful expedition under Parry in 1827, which was based heavily on the then popular theory of the ice-free Arctic Ocean and had the goal of taking with him to get to the geographic North Pole from Spitsbergen on sledges pulled over the ice . The expedition reached a position north of the 82nd parallel across the ice , which was a record that had existed for about fifty years, but then had to admit defeat because of the continually drifting southward ice and in view of the lack of the expected navigable ocean. Ross was made lieutenant captain on his return .

In 1829 he accompanied his uncle John Ross on his second, this time self-financed trip to the North Pole , during which he found the northern magnetic pole on June 1, 1831, which was then on the Boothia Peninsula . The expedition was trapped in the ice for four years, and Ross gained valuable insights into survival in these latitudes, particularly about the Inuit diet. Upon his return in 1834, he was appointed post-captain.

When worrying reports reached the Admiralty in 1835 of a number of whaling boats trapped by the ice in the Davis Strait , Ross was entrusted with the organization of the rescue expedition that set sail in the spring of 1836. The whalers could be saved; But this was not to John Ross's credit, because by the time he arrived in the Davis Strait the whalers had already freed themselves.

South Pole

Expeditions 1840/41 and 1841/43

Ross undertook an expedition to the South Pole on September 29, 1839 with the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror . As the second highest officer of the expedition and commander of the terror , he chose his friend Francis Crozier .

On January 11, 1841, Ross discovered a country with high snow mountains at 71 ° 15 ′ south latitude, to which he gave the name South Victoria Land . On an island in front of it ( Ross Island ), he named two volcanoes after his ships ( Mount Erebus and Mount Terror ), which, in view of the custom at the time of naming ships of this class after volcanoes, is an irony that cannot be dismissed. On February 2, it penetrated to 78 ° 10 ′ south latitude, the southernmost point reached by a human for a long time. Here he had to turn around in front of a huge wall of ice. In early March Ross turned back north and arrived back in Tasmania on April 4, 1841 . In November, the expedition sailed again to the Antarctic via New Zealand , but encountered an ice barrier so high that it could not penetrate as far as the year before. He then sailed to the Falkland Islands . From here he made a third attempt to the South Pole on December 17, 1842. He was convinced that behind the large ice barrier there must be a huge mainland.

Ross now turned back to England and arrived there on September 4, 1843. On March 13, 1844 he received the knighthood of a Knight Bachelor .

The outstanding achievement of this four-year research and discovery journey was that the Ross expedition succeeded in breaking through the pack ice belt of the southern polar sea with their sailing ships. Ross had received the information from the voyage of the English whaler John Balleny that he had advanced on the 170th east longitude to 69 ° south latitude and found free water there. On January 9, 1841, the Ross Expedition managed to leave the pack ice belt in the south.

Find Franklin

In 1848 Ross was supposed to visit the missing Franklin expedition with the ships Enterprise and Investigator , with which he personally linked the memory of his friend Crozier and the crew of the ships Erebus and Terror . He wintered in Leopoldshafen and organized several sleigh rides in the spring of 1849, the most important of which, under the personal direction of Ross, visited the north and west coast of Somerset Island (Canada) up to latitude 72 ° 38 'north. Due to high ice he had to make his way home and reached the Orkneys on September 27, 1849 .

Ross was appointed Rear Admiral on December 1, 1856 . He died at Aylesbury on April 3, 1862.

Memberships

In 1828 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society ; since 1852 he was a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences .

Designations according to Ross

Satellite image of Ross Island and the Ross Ice Shelf

Many geographical locations are named after James Clark Ross, including the Ross Sea , the Ross Ice Shelf , Ross Island , Cape Ross and James Ross Island in Antarctica and Mont Ross on the Kerguelen in southern India Ocean. The Ross crater is named in honor of James Clark and Frank Elmore Ross .

Works

  • A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, During the Years 1839-43 . 2 volumes. J. Murray, London 1847; Volume 1  - Internet Archive / Volume 2  - Internet Archive
  • Narrative of the proceedings in command of the expedition through Lancaster Sound and Barrow Straits . In: Parliament Papers . 35, 1850

literature

Web links

Commons : James Clark Ross  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fergus Flemming: Bowden's Boys or An Incredible Story of True Heroism and Brilliant Failure . New edition edition. mareverlag, Hamburg 2010, p. 407 (Original title: Barrow's Boys . London 1998. First edition: Granta Books).
  2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 2. Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 344.
  3. ↑ James Clark Ross: A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions During the Years 1839-1843 . Volume 1. John Murray, London 1847, p. 117; Text archive - Internet Archive
  4. ^ Entry on Ross, Sir, James Clark (1800 - 1862) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
  5. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter R. Académie des sciences, accessed on February 23, 2020 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Ross, James Clark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British explorer and navigator
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1862
Place of death at Aylesbury