James Clark Ross
Sir James Clark Ross FRAS | |
---|---|
Birth name | James Clark Ross |
Born | Finsbury Square, London, England | 15 April 1800
Died | 3 April 1862 Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire, England | (aged 61)
Buried | St James the Great, Aston Abbotts |
Branch | Royal Navy |
Service years | 1812–1862 |
Rank | Rear-Admiral of the Red |
Expeditions | Ross expedition (1839–1843) |
Awards |
|
Spouse(s) |
Ann Coulman
(m. 1843; died 1857) |
Relations | Sir John Ross (uncle) |
Sir James Clark Ross
Biography
Early life
Ross was born in London, the son of George Ross
Arctic exploration
Ross participated in John's unsuccessful first Arctic voyage in search of a
On 28 October 1834
British Magnetic Survey
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
Antarctic exploration
On 8 April 1839, Ross was given orders to command an expedition to Antarctica for the purposes of 'magnetic research and geographical discovery'.
En route to the
Ross crossed the
After being forced to overwinter in Tasmania, Ross returned to the Ross Sea in December 1841 before travelling east past Marie Byrd Land to 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.[11]
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.[11]
The expedition's main aim was to find the position of the
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.[14][15]
Search for Franklin's lost expedition
On 31 January
Personal life
Ross married Ann Coulman in 1843.[18] A blue plaque marks Ross's home in Eliot Place, Blackheath, London.[19] 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 is a lake with two islands, named after the ships Terror and Erebus.[20]
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.[21]
Ross died at Aston Abbotts on 3 April 1862, five years after his wife.[22][23] They are buried together in the parish churchyard of St. James the Great.
In fiction
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 is entitled 'One of James Ross's foxes').[citation needed]
Tributes
- The phocids, first described during the Ross expedition[24]
- The Rossøya in the Arctic are all named after him[25]
- RRS James Clark Ross, former name of Noosfera, a National Antarctic Scientific Center of Ukraine research ship.[26]
- The crater Ross on the Moon is named after him[27]
- Ross's gull, a small gull, the only species in its genus, that breeds in the high arctic of northernmost North America and northeast Siberia[28]
- Ross Dependency, Ross Island, Ross Ice Shelf[29] and Ross Sea in the Antarctic are all named after him[25]
- Mont Ross, the highest mountain, at a height of 6,070 feet (1,850 m), in the Kerguelen Islands, is named after Ross
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h O'Byrne 1849, pp. 1005–1006.
- ^ a b c d e f Boneham, M (1860). "Description of 'Ross, James Clark, 1800-1862, Sir James Clark Ross collection, 1812-1860. Scott Polar Research Institute Archives, University of Cambridge. GB 15 SIR JAMES CLARK ROSS' on the Archives Hub website". JISC Archive. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ O'Byrne 1849, pp. 1006–1007.
- ISBN 8870423999.
- ISBN 9780773509368.
- S2CID 128912203. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- PMID 31390418.
- ^ "James Clark Ross (1800–1862)". Glasgow Digital Library. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
- ^ Ward, P. (2001). "Antarctic expedition, 1839–1843, James Clark Ross".
- ^ "Franklin Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ^ a b Ross, James (1847). A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, During the Years 1839–43. Vol. 2. London: John Murray.
- )
- ISBN 978-0-309-03640-5.
- ^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 749.
- ^ "No. 20325". The London Gazette. 15 March 1844. p. 909.
- OCLC 1391959.
- ^ "Franklin expedition: DNA test identifies member of 1845 Arctic voyage". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
- ^ "Coulman Island". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Sir James Clark Ross 1800–1862 polar explorer lived here". Open Plaques. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ "History: Sir James Clark Ross". Aston Abbotts. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ "No. 7144". The Edinburgh Gazette. 13 August 1861. p. 1044.
- ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "No. 22701". The London Gazette. 23 January 1863. p. 413.
- ISBN 9780415970242.
- ^ ISBN 9780773512344.
- ^ "RRS James Clark Ross". British Antarctic Survey. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ "North Magnetic Pole Discovered 1 June 1831". History Channel. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
- ^ Rushton, Annabel (9 February 2014). "Who's this Ross character then?". RSPB. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
- ^ 1) [Bertrand, Kenneth John, et al, ed.] The Geographical Names of Antarctica. Special Publication No. 86. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Board on Geographical Names, May 1947. 2) [Bertrand, Kenneth J. and Fred G. Alberts]. Gazetteer No. 14. Geographic Names of Antarctica. Washington: US Government Printing Office, January 1956.
Bibliography
- O'Byrne, William R. (1849). A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Comprising the Life and Services of Every Living Officer in Her Majesty's Navy, from the Rank of Admiral of the Fleet to that of Lieutenant, Inclusive. J. Murray.
- Coleman, E. C. (2006). The Royal Navy in Polar exploration: from Frobisher to Ross. Stroud: ISBN 9780752436609.
- OCLC 1049894753.
- Ross, J.; Ross, J. C. (1835b). Narrative of a second voyage in search of a North-west passage. Vol. 2. London: A. W. Webster. OCLC 579644792.
- Ross, J. C. (1847a). A voyage of discovery and research in the southern and Antarctic regions. Vol. 1. London: OCLC 62006339.
- Ross, J. C. (1847b). A voyage of discovery and research in the southern and Antarctic regions. Vol. 2. London: OCLC 81909940.
- Wilson, J. G.; et al., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 5. New York: D. Appleton & Co. p. 330.