Ross expedition

File:James Clark Ross.jpg by John R. Wildman. The object lower right is a dip circle.]]

In 1838, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) proposed an expedition to carry out magnetic measurements in the Antarctic.{{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2865 |title=National Archives- Sir James Clark Ross notes and correspondence |date=1875 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |publisher=National Archives |access-date=1 April 2022}} Sir James Clark Ross was chosen to lead the expedition after previous experience working on the British Magnetic Survey from 1834 onwards, working with prominent physicists and geologists such as Humphrey Lloyd, Sir Edward Sabine, John Phillips and Robert Were Fox.{{cite journal |last=Goodman |first=Matthew |date= 20 September 2016 |title=Proving instruments credible in the early nineteenth century: The British Magnetic Survey and site-specific experimentation |journal=Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science |volume=70 |issue=3 |pages=251–268 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2016.0023 |pmid=31390418 |pmc=4978730 }} Ross had made many previous expeditions to the Arctic, including experience as captain.{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=A. G. E. |year=1950 |title=The Voyage of H.M.S. Cove, Captain James Clark Ross, 1835–36 |journal=Polar Record |volume=5 |issue=40 |pages=543–556 |doi=10.1017/S0032247400045150 |s2cid=128912203 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=5633664&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0032247400045150}}

Ross, a captain of the Royal Navy, commanded HMS Erebus. Its sister ship, HMS Terror, was commanded by Ross' close friend, Captain Francis Crozier.{{cite book |last=Paine |first=Lincoln P. |title=Ships of Discovery and Exploration |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2000 |pages=139–140 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9W4QO1b_A8C |isbn=0-395-98415-7}}

The botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, then aged 23 and the youngest person on the expedition, was assistant-surgeon to Robert McCormick, and responsible for collecting zoological and geological specimens.{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton}}Desmond, R. 1999. Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker: Traveller and Plant Collector. Antique Collectors' Club and The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. {{ISBN|1-85149-305-0}} p. 18 Hooker later became one of England's greatest botanists; he was a close friend of Charles Darwin and became director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew for twenty years.Huxley, Leonard 1918. Life and letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI. London, Murray.Turrill W.B. 1963. Joseph Dalton Hooker: botanist, explorer and administrator. Nelson, London. McCormick had been ship's surgeon for the second voyage of HMS Beagle under Captain Robert FitzRoy, along with Darwin as gentleman naturalist.{{cite book |last=Browne |first=E. Janet |author-link=Janet Browne |year=1995 |title=Charles Darwin: vol. 1 Voyaging |publisher=Jonathan Cape |isbn=1-84413-314-1 |page=205}}

The second master on Terror was John E. Davis who was responsible for much of the surveying and chart production, as well as producing many illustrations of the voyage. He had been on the Beagle surveying the coasts of Bolivia, Peru and Chile.{{cite book |last=Dawson |first=Llewellyn Styles |title=Memoirs of hydrography, including brief biographies of the principal officers who have served in H.M. Naval Surveying Service between the years 1750 and 1885. Part 2. - 1830-1885 |date=1885 |publisher=Henry W. Keay |location=Eastbourne |pages=157–158 |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirshydrogra00dawsgoog}} Another Arctic veteran was Thomas Abernethy, another friend of Ross, who joined the new expedition as a gunner.

File:HMS Terror - ILN 1845 (cropped).jpg or HMS Terror, from the Illustrated London News, 1845]]

{{main|HMS Erebus (1826)|HMS Terror (1813)}}

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, the ships servicing the Ross expedition, were two unusually strong warships.{{cite web |last=Godbey |first=Holly |title=Recent Discovery of Wrecked HMS Terror, a Bombing Vessel From a Failed Arctic Expedition |url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/recent-discovery-wrecked-bombing-vessel-arctic-expedition-m.html |website=War History Online |date=23 June 2017}} Both were bomb ships, named and equipped to fire heavy mortar bombs at a high angle over defences, and were accordingly heavily built to withstand the substantial recoil of these three-ton weapons. Their solid construction ideally suited them for use in dangerous sea ice that might crush other ships. The 372-ton Erebus had been armed with two mortars – one {{convert|13|in|mm|abbr=on}} and one {{convert|10|in|mm|abbr=on}} – and ten guns.{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/erebus-terror-artifacts-1.3244303 | title=Franklin expedition: New photos of HMS Erebus artifacts, but still no sign of HMS Terror |publisher=CBC News | author=Janet Davison |date=27 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126185037/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/erebus-terror-artifacts-1.3244303 | archive-date=2015-11-26 |access-date=2015-12-19 |url-status=live}}

File:P313 Voyage of Discovery Ross Vol 1.jpg (left) and Mount Erebus, by Terror{{'}}s second master, John E. Davis, who produced numerous charts and illustrations of the voyage ]]

File:James Ross-fr.svg

In September 1839, Erebus and Terror departed Chatham in Kent, arriving at Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) in August 1840. On 21 November 1840 they departed for Antarctica. In January 1841, the ships landed on Victoria Land and proceeded to name areas of the landscape after British politicians, scientists and acquaintances. Mount Erebus, on Ross Island, was named after one ship and Mount Terror after the other.{{cite book |title=A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, During the Years 1839–43 |last=Ross |first=James Clark |location=London |publisher=John Murray |year=1847 |volume=2 }} McMurdo Bay (now known as McMurdo Sound) was named after Archibald McMurdo, senior lieutenant of Terror.James Clark Ross, A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions During the Years 1839–1843, Vol I, J. Murray, 1847, p. 245

Reaching latitude 76° south on 28 January 1841, the explorers spied

...a low white line extending from its eastern extreme point as far as the eye could discern... It presented an extraordinary appearance, gradually increasing in height, as we got nearer to it, and proving at length to be a perpendicular cliff of ice, between one hundred and fifty and two hundred feet above the level of the sea, perfectly flat and level at the top, and without any fissures or promontories on its even seaward face.Ross Volume I p. 218

Ross called this the "Great Ice Barrier", now known as the Ross Ice Shelf, which they were unable to penetrate, although they followed it eastward until the lateness of the season compelled them to return to Tasmania. The following summer, 1841–42, Ross continued to follow the ice shelf eastward. Both ships stayed at Port Louis in the Falkland Islands for the winter, returning in September 1842 to explore the Antarctic Peninsula, where they conducted studies in magnetism, and gathered oceanographic data and collections of botanical and ornithological specimens.

The expedition arrived back in England on 4 September 1843, having confirmed the existence of the southern continent and charted a large part of its coastline.{{cite book |author=Desmond, Ray |date=2006 |title=Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker: Traveller and Plant Collector |publisher=Antique Collectors Club |page=85}} It was the last major voyage of exploration made wholly under sail.Ward, p. 2001. [http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/erebus_terror_antarctica.htm Antarctic expedition, 1839–1843, James Clark Ross] Both Erebus and Terror would later be fitted with steam engines and used for Franklin's lost expedition of 1845–1848, in which both ships (and all crew) would ultimately be lost; their ship-wrecks have now been found.

Image:Magnetic South Pole locations.png from observation, starting with Ross, and prediction{{cite web |title=Wandering of the Geomagnetic Poles |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/wandering-geomagnetic-poles |author=NOAA National Geophysical Data Center |access-date=8 March 2017}}]]

Ross discovered the "enormous" Ross Ice Shelf, correctly observing that it was the source of the tabular icebergs seen in the Southern Ocean, and helping to found the science of glaciology. He identified the Transantarctic Mountains and the volcanoes Erebus and Terror, named after his ships.{{cite web |title=James Clark Ross (1800–1862) |url=http://sites.scran.ac.uk/voyage_of_the_scotia/scotia/vserm/vserm020202.htm |publisher=Glasgow Digital Library |access-date=26 February 2016}}{{cite book |last=Coleman |first=E. C. |year=2006 |title=The Royal Navy in Polar Exploration, from Frobisher to Ross |isbn=0-7524-3660-0 |publisher=Tempus |pages=329–335}}

{{further|Magnetism}}

The main purpose of the Ross expedition was to find the position of the South Magnetic Pole, by making observations of the Earth's magnetism in the Southern hemisphere.{{cite journal |title=New Scientist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gcvp_4_BsOQC&pg=PA53 |date=7 October 1982 |page=53}} Ross did not reach the Pole, but did infer its position.{{cite book |author1=Polar Research Board |author2=Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences |author3=National Research Council |title=Antarctic Treaty System:: An Assessment: Proceedings of a Workshop Held at Beardmore South Field Camp, Antarctica, January 7–13, 1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gNxjxfm4cSgC&pg=PA90 |date=1 January 1986 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-03640-5 |page=90}} The expedition made the first "definitive" charts of magnetic declination, magnetic dip and magnetic intensity, in place of the less accurate charts made by the earlier expeditions of Charles Wilkes and Dumont d'Urville.

File:Adelie Penguin, from the Ross Expedition.jpg, from the Ross Expedition to the Antarctic of 1839–1843. The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus and Terror Vol 1, 1875. Drawn by C. Hillman]]

The expedition's zoological discoveries included a collection of birds. They were described and illustrated by George Robert Gray and Richard Bowdler Sharpe in The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Erebus & HMS Terror.Gray, John Edward. [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_Zoology_of_the_Voyage_of_HMS_Erebus_and_Terror_Vol_1.djvu&page=9 The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror Under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., F.R.S., During the Years 1839 to 1843], E. W. Janson, 1875.{{cite book |editor1-last=Richardson |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Gray |editor2-first=John Edward |title=The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus & Terror Under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R.N., F.R.S., During the Years 1839 to 1843 Vol. 1: Mammalia, Birds |date=1844–1875 |volume=1 |publisher=E. W. Janson |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31178#page/9/mode/1up}}

The expedition was the first to describe the Ross seal, which it found in the pack ice, to which the species is confined.

{{main|Flora Antarctica}}

{{further|Joseph Dalton Hooker|Botany}}

The expedition's botanical discoveries were documented in Joseph Dalton Hooker's four-part Flora Antarctica (1843–1859). It totalled six volumes (parts III and IV each being in two volumes), covered about 3000 species, and contained 530 plates figuring in all 1095 of the species described. It was throughout "splendidly" illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch.{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Curtis |first=Winifred M. |title=Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton (1817–1911) (Volume 4) |date=1972 |id2=hooker-sir-joseph-dalton-3789}} The parts were:

• Part I Botany of Lord Auckland's Group and Campbell's Island (1844–1845)
• Part II Botany of Fuegia, the Falklands, Kerguelen's Land, Etc. (1845–1847)
• Part III Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–1853) (2 volumes)
• Part IV Flora Tasmaniae (1853–1859) (2 volumes)

Hooker gave Charles Darwin a copy of the first part of the Flora; Darwin thanked him, and agreed in November 1845 that the geographical distribution of organisms would be "the key which will unlock the mystery of species".{{cite web |last=Darwin |first=Charles |title=Letter from Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. on [5 or 12 Nov 1845] (MS DAR 114: 45, 45b) |url=http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00114-00045/1 |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=25 February 2016}}

File:Flora Antarctica title page.jpg|Title page of Flora Antarctica, 1844–1846

File:Flora Antarctica Plate CXXIV.jpg|Fagus betuloides (Flora Antarctica, Plate CXXIV)

File:Flora Antarctica Nitophyllum smithi.jpg|The red alga Nitophyllum smithi

In 1912, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen wrote of the Ross expedition that "Few people of the present day are capable of rightly appreciating this heroic deed, this brilliant proof of human courage and energy. With two ponderous craft – regular "tubs" according to our ideas – these men sailed right into the heart of the pack [ice], which all previous explorers had regarded as certain death ... These men were heroes – heroes in the highest sense of the word."{{cite web |title=Erebus and Terror – The Antarctic Expedition 1839–1843, James Clark Ross |url=http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/erebus_terror_antarctica.php |publisher=Cool Antarctica |access-date=26 February 2016}}

Hooker's Flora Antarctica remains important; in 2013 W. H. Walton in his Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent describes it as "a major reference to this day", encompassing as it does "all the plants he found both in the Antarctic and on the sub-Antarctic islands", surviving better than Ross's deep-sea soundings which were made with "inadequate equipment".{{cite book |last=Walton |first=D. W. H. |title=Antarctica: Global Science from a Frozen Continent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Vg9A2N5I3wC&pg=PA7 |date=28 March 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00392-7 |page=7}}

{{reflist|28em}}

• [http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/antarctic_ships/erebus_terror_antarctica.php Cool Antarctica: Erebus and Terror]
• [http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156616/ Encyclopedia of Earth: Three National Expeditions to Antarctica]

{{Polar exploration |state=collapsed}}

Category:Antarctic expeditions

Category:Expeditions from Great Britain

Category:1830s in Antarctica

Category:1840s in Antarctica

Category:Flora of the Antarctic

Category:1830s in science

Category:1840s in science

Category:Scientific expeditions

Category:Botanists active in New Zealand

Category:Botanists active in South America

Category:History of the Ross Dependency