The McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica , known as the southernmost passable body of water in the world, located approximately 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) from the South Pole .
67-506: Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February of 1841 and named it after Lieutenant Archibald McMurdo of HMS Terror . Currently, the sound serves as a resupply route for cargo ships and airplanes that land on floating ice airstrips near McMurdo Station . The sound extends approximately 55 kilometers (34 mi) in length and width, and opens into the larger Ross Sea to
134-931: A hovercraft for Antarctica voyages, and all-terrain vehicles for over ice or overland travel. Land-based tourism in Antarctica, however, continues to be rare. Antarctica lacks a permanent land-based tourism facility, despite the annual surge in the number of visitors. The International Association of Tour Operators (IAATO) has established voluntary standards to discourage tourists from disrupting wildlife. Nonetheless, large ships, carrying more than 400 passengers, may spend up to 12 hours transporting tourists to and from breeding sites. Such large-ship operations expose wildlife to humans far longer than smaller vessels. 77°30′S 165°00′E / 77.500°S 165.000°E / -77.500; 165.000 James Clark Ross Sir James Clark Ross DCL FRS FLS FRAS (15 April 1800 – 3 April 1862)
201-436: A 5-year, $ 30-million cleanup program in 1989, according to Reuters News Agency . The concentrated effort targeted the open dump at McMurdo. By 2003, the U.S. Antarctic Program reported recycling approximately 70% of its wastes, according to Australia's Herald Sun . The 1989 cleanup included workers testing hundreds of barrels at the dump site, mostly full of fuels and human waste, for identification before they were loaded onto
268-499: A freighter for exportation. The precedent for exporting waste began in 1971. The United States shipped out tons of radiation-contaminated soil after officials shut down a small nuclear power plant. Antarctica's extreme remoteness and hazardous travel conditions limit Antarctica tourism to an expensive niche industry largely centered on the Antarctic Peninsula . The number of seaborne tourists grew more than four times throughout
335-632: 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
402-431: A large expanse of surface ice. In summer, ships approaching the sound are often blocked by various amounts of first-year ice, fast ice (connected to the shoreline), and hard multi-year ice. Subsequently, icebreakers are required for maritime resupply missions to McMurdo Station. Ross Island is the southernmost piece of land in Antarctica that is accessible by ship. In addition, the harbour at McMurdo's Winter Quarters Bay
469-509: A saline lake, and the Onyx River , a meltwater stream and Antarctica's longest river . Although no living organisms have been found in the permafrost here, endolithic photosynthetic bacteria have been found living in the relatively moist interior of rocks, and anaerobic bacteria , with a metabolism based on iron and sulfur, live under the Taylor Glacier . The valleys are located within
536-443: A significant amount of drift ice , especially along the shoreline of Winter Quarters Bay . The pack ice that girdles the shoreline at Winter Quarters Bay and elsewhere in the sound presents a considerable obstacle to surface ships. Vessels require ice-strengthened hulls and often have to rely upon escort by icebreakers . Less than 10 percent of McMurdo Sound's shoreline is free of ice. During austral winter, McMurdo Sound presents
603-553: 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
670-510: Is entitled 'One of James Ross's foxes'). McMurdo Dry Valleys 77°28′S 162°31′E / 77.467°S 162.517°E / -77.467; 162.517 The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely snow-free valleys in Antarctica , located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound . The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent
737-622: Is the world's southernmost seaport (Department of Geography, Texas A&M University ). The access by ships depends upon favorable ice conditions. Tourism is increasingly popular in other parts of Antarctica but remains limited in McMurdo Sound due to the extreme sea conditions. Cold circumpolar currents of the Southern Ocean shrink the flow of warm South Pacific or South Atlantic waters reaching McMurdo Sound and other Antarctic coastal waters. McMurdo Sound experiences katabatic winds from
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#1732844720251804-632: 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
871-544: The Antarctic polar plateau . McMurdo Sound freezes over with sea ice about 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick during the winter. During the austral summer when the pack ice breaks up, wind and currents may push the ice northward into the Ross Sea, stirring up cold bottom currents that spill into the ocean basins. Temperatures during the winter months at McMurdo Station have dropped as low as −28 °C (−18 °F). December and January are
938-511: The Braveheart moved away from the iceberg (National Geographic). More than 50 years of continuous operation of the United States and New Zealand bases on Ross Island have left pockets of severe pollution in McMurdo Sound. Until 1981, McMurdo Station residents simply towed their garbage out to the sea ice and let nature take its course. The garbage sank to the sea floor when the ice broke up in
1005-502: The Gulf of Alaska caused the breakup, according to a report by the U.S. National Public Radio. Wind and sea currents shifted the smaller, but still massive Iceberg B-15A towards McMurdo Sound. B-15A's girth temporarily blocked the outflow of pack ice from McMurdo Sound. Iceberg B-15A's grounding at the mouth of McMurdo Sound also blocked the path for thousands of penguins to reach their food source in open water. Moreover, pack ice built up behind
1072-518: The McMurdo Dry Valleys on the western shores of McMurdo Sound. McMurdo Sound provides an important component in Antarctica's global effects upon climate . A key factor is the polar winds that can drive the sound's pack ice into the Ross Sea summer or winter. Frigid katabatic winds rake subsequently exposed water, causing sea ice to form. Freezing surface water excludes salt from the water below; leaving behind heavy, cold water that sinks to
1139-598: The Pleistocene layer within the Taylor Valley was between 137 and 275 m thick, and composed of interbedded sandstones , pebble conglomerates , and laminated silty mudstones . This Pleistocene layer disconformably overlies Pliocene and Miocene diamictites . Endolithic bacteria have been found living in the Dry Valleys, sheltered from the dry air in the relatively moist interior of rocks. Summer meltwater from
1206-457: The South Pole in the 1960s. Routine overflights from Australia and New Zealand took place between 1977 and 1980, transporting more than 11,000 passengers, according to Antarctica New Zealand , which manages Scott Base . One such flight, Air New Zealand Flight 901 , crashed into Mount Erebus on the eastern shores of McMurdo Sound. The impact, occurring in sector whiteout into the lower slopes of
1273-553: The South Pole . McMurdo Sound's logistic importance continues today. Aircraft transporting cargo and passengers land on frozen runways at Williams Field on the McMurdo Ice Shelf . Moreover, the annual sealift of a cargo ship and fuel tanker rely upon the sound as a supply route to the continent's largest base, the United States McMurdo Station . Both the U.S. base and New Zealand's nearby Scott Base are on
1340-639: The Transantarctic Mountains . These "dry valleys" include hummocky moraines , with frozen lakes, saline ponds, sand dunes, and meltwater streams. Basement rocks include the Late Precambrian or Early Palaeozoic Skelton Group metamorphic rocks , primarily the Asgard Formation , which is a medium-high-grade marble and calc schist . The Palaeozoic Granite Harbour intrusives include granitoid plutons and dykes , which intruded into
1407-661: The Weddell Sea and Ross Sea regions since 1992. High-latitude cruises in dense pack ice are only achievable during the austral summer season, November into March. In 1997, the vessel Kapitan Khlebnikov claimed the distinction of being the first ship to circumnavigate Antarctica with passengers ( Quark Expeditions ). Passengers aboard the icebreaker make landings aboard Zodiac inflatable boats to explore remote beaches. Their itinerary may also include stops at Ross Island's historic explorer huts at Discovery Point near McMurdo Station or Cape Royds (Antarctica New Zealand). Additionally,
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#17328447202511474-492: The 1990s, reaching more than 14,000 by 2000, up from 2,500 just a decade earlier. More than 46,000 airborne and seaborne tourists visited Antarctica during the 2007–2008 season, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO). This confederation of tour operators reports that only 5% of Antarctic tourists visit the Ross Sea area, which encompasses McMurdo Sound. Tourists congregate on
1541-532: The AUT team created three dimensional maps with sub-centimeter resolution, which are now used as baselines. Part of the Valleys was designated an environmentally protected area in 2004. From north to south, the three main valleys are West of Victoria Valley are, from north to south, Stretching south from Balham Valley are, from west to east: West of Taylor Valley is Further south, between Royal Society Range in
1608-567: The Antarctic coast. Wind instruments recorded Antarctica's highest wind velocity at the coastal station Dumont d'Urville in July 1972 at 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph) ( Australian Government Antarctic Division ). Prevailing winds into McMurdo Sound shoot between mountain passes and other land formations, producing blizzards known locally as "Herbies". Such blizzards can occur any time of year. Residents of McMurdo Station and Scott Base have dubbed
1675-689: 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 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
1742-529: 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
1809-559: The McMurdo Valleys Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA-2). The Dry Valleys are so named because of their extremely low humidity and lack of snow or ice cover. They are also dry because, in this location, the mountains are sufficiently high that they block seaward-flowing ice from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet from reaching the Ross Sea . At 4,800 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi),
1876-545: The Russian icebreaker extends the reach of tourism by launching helicopter trips from its decks, including visits to sites such as the McMurdo Dry Valleys and areas noted for wildlife viewing. The ' Spirit of Enderby has been conducting cruises to the Ross Sea region for many years, including McMurdo Sound. Although the Enderby has an ice-strengthened hull, the ship is not an icebreaker. The Enderby sports Zodiac inflatable boats,
1943-461: The U.S. tanker MV Richard G. Matthiesen from reaching the harbour at McMurdo Station, despite the assistance of icebreakers. Instead, shore workers rigged a temporary 5.6-kilometre (3.5 mi) fuel line over the ice pack to discharge the ship's cargo. The ship pumped more than 23 million litres (6.1 million US gallons) of fuel to storage facilities at McMurdo. Officials balance the potential for fuel spills inherent in such operations against
2010-765: The active volcano, took the lives of all 257 people aboard the aircraft. In 1969 the MS Explorer brought seagoing tourists to Antarctica (British Antarctic Survey). The cruise's founder, Lars-Eric Lindblad , coupled expeditionary cruising with education. He is quoted as saying, "You can't protect what you don't know" (IAATO). In the decades since then, ships engaged in Antarctic sightseeing cruises have grown in size and number. Infrequent Antarctic cruises have included passenger vessels carrying up to 960 tourists (IAATO). Such vessels may conduct so-called "drive-by" cruises, with no landings made ashore. The Russian icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov (above right) has conducted voyages to
2077-400: The barren expanse of McMurdo Sound's ice pack. Frigid waters that would kill many other fish in the world sustain the Antarctic notothenioid , a bony "ice fish" related to walleyes and perch . Cactus sponges, globe sponges, starfish , sea urchins , and sea anemones are also present. Large sea spiders inhabit the depths of the sound and feed on sea anemones. Antarctic krill flourish in
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2144-462: The critical need to keep McMurdo Station supplied with oil. A fuel tank spill in an unrelated onshore incident in 2003 spilt roughly 25,000 litres (6,600 US gallons) of Diesel fuel at a helicopter pad at McMurdo Station. The 1989 grounding of the Argentinean ship Bahía Paraíso and subsequent spillage of 640,000 litres (170,000 US gallons) of oil into the sea near the Antarctic Peninsula showed
2211-400: The eastern shoreline of McMurdo Sound adjacent to Ross Island . The icebreakers escorted the tanker USNS Paul Buck to McMurdo Station's ice pier in late January. The freighter MV American Tern followed on 3 February. Similar pack ice blocked a National Geographic expedition aboard the 34-metre (112 ft) Braveheart from reaching B-15A. However, expedition divers were able to explore
2278-511: The environmental hazards inherent in supply missions to Antarctica. Zoologist Clive Evans from Auckland University described McMurdo's harbor as "one of the most polluted harbors in the world in terms of oil", according to a 2004 article by the New Zealand Herald. Modern operations in McMurdo Sound have sparked surface cleanup efforts, recycling , and exporting trash and other contaminants by ship. The U.S. National Science Foundation began
2345-939: 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 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
2412-408: The flow of ice from nearby glaciers . The rocks here are granites and gneisses , and glacial tills dot this bedrock landscape, with loose gravel covering the ground. It is one of the driest places on Earth, though there are several anecdotal accounts of rainfall within the Dry Valleys. The region is one of the world's most extreme deserts , and includes many features including Lake Vida ,
2479-436: The glaciers provides the primary source of soil nutrients . Scientists consider the Dry Valleys perhaps the closest of any terrestrial environment to the planet Mars , and thus an important source of insights into possible extraterrestrial life . Anaerobic bacteria whose metabolism is based on iron and sulfur live in sub-freezing temperatures under the Taylor Glacier . It was previously thought that algae were staining
2546-506: The ice-free coastal zones during summer near the Antarctic Peninsula . The peninsula's wildlife, soaring mountains, and dramatic seascapes have drawn commercial visitors since the late 1950s, when Argentina and Chile operated cruises to the South Shetland Islands . Tourists flights began in 1957, when a Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser made the first civilian flight to Antarctica. Commercial flights landed at McMurdo Sound and
2613-531: The iceberg in the Ross Sea creating a nearly 150-kilometre (81 nmi) frozen barrier that blocked two cargo ships en route to supply McMurdo Station, according to the National Science Foundation . The icebreakers USCGC Polar Star and the Russian Krasin were required to open a ship channel through ice up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) thick. The last leg of the channel followed a route along
2680-468: The lakes at the base of the valleys, which do not have outflow to the sea, causing them to become highly saline. The McMurdo Oasis constitutes approximately 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi) of "deglaciated mountainous desert", according to McKelvey, bounded by the coastline of south Victoria Land and the Polar Plateau . The Taylor and Wright Valleys are major ice-free valleys within
2747-714: The metasedimentary Skelton Group in the Late Cambrian – Early Ordovician during the Ross orogeny . The basement complex is overlain by the Jurassic Beacon Supergroup , which is itself intruded by Ferrar Dolerite sheets and sills . The McMurdo Volcanic Group intrudes, or is interbedded with, the Taylor and Wright Valleys' moraines as basaltic cinder cones and lava flows . These basalts have ages between 2.1 and 4.4 Ma . The Dry Valley Drilling Project (1971–75) determined
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2814-541: 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
2881-448: The nearby White Island and Black Island "Herbie Alley" due to winds that funnel blizzards between the islands (Field Manual for the U.S. Antarctic Program). Overall the continent's extremely cold air does not hold enough moisture for significant snowfall. The annual snowfall on Ross Island averages only 17.6 centimetres (6.9 in). Snowfall in Antarctica's interior is far less at 5 centimetres (2.0 in). Snow seldom accumulates on
2948-685: The north. To the south, the sound is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf cavity, to the west lies the Royal Society Range , and to the east is Ross Island . McMurdo Sound is separated from the McMurdo Ice Shelf (part of the Ross Ice Shelf) by the Haskell Strait . Winter Quarters Bay lies at the south end of the Sound and is the southernmost port on Earth . While the sound is navigable, it contains
3015-408: 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
3082-428: The ocean floor contained high levels of tributyltin (TBT), a component of the anti-fouling paints. "The levels are close to the maximum you will find anywhere, apart from ship grounding sites", said Andrew Negri of the institute. Ships, aircraft, and land-based operations in McMurdo Sound all present hazards of oil spills or fuel leaks. For instance, in 2003, the build-up of two years of difficult ice conditions blocked
3149-543: The ocean floor. This process repeats along Antarctica's coastal areas, spreading cold sea water into Earth's ocean basins. According to an interview with climatologist Gerd Wendler, published in the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Sun, one could dive to the ocean floor anywhere in the world and encounter water from the coast of Antarctica. "Seventy-five percent of all the bottom water, wherever you are, comes from Antarctica." A rich sea life thrives under
3216-597: The permafrost, the first location on the planet visited by humans with no active microbial life. In 2014, drones were used in the McMurdo Dry Valleys by a team of scientists from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) to create baseline maps of the vegetation. In 2015, the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute granted funding to AUT to develop methods for operating unmanned aerial vehicles . Over successive summer seasons in Antarctica,
3283-494: The red ice emerging at Blood Falls but it is now known that the staining is caused by high levels of iron oxide . Irish and American researchers conducted a field expedition in 2013 to University Valley in order to examine the microbial population and to test a drill designed for sampling on Mars in the permafrost of the driest parts of the valleys, the areas most analogous to the Martian surface. They found no living organisms in
3350-505: The snow rapidly and little melts into the soil. During the summer, this process can take only hours. Another important factor is a lack of precipitation. Precipitation averages around 100 millimetres (4 in) per year over a century of records, almost exclusively in the form of snow. This contributes to the low humidity of the area. For several weeks in the summer, the temperature increases enough to allow for glacial melt, which causes small freshwater streams to form. These streams feed
3417-643: The sound had fouled Winter Quarters Bay. The pollution ended in 2003 when a $ 5 million waste treatment plant went online. Other documented bay water contaminants include leakage from an open dump at the station. The dump introduced heavy metals , petroleum compounds, and chemicals into the water. A study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science found that anti-fouling paints on the hulls of icebreakers are polluting McMurdo Sound. Such paints kill algae , barnacles , and other marine life that adhere to ship hulls. Scientists found that samples taken from
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#17328447202513484-471: The southern tip of Ross Island. In March 2000, the 282-kilometre (175 mi) long Iceberg B-15 , the largest ever seen at the time, broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf (Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems: Cooperative Research Center) and then suddenly broke up on 27 October 2005. Research based upon measurements retrieved from a seismometer previously placed on B-15 indicated that ocean swells caused by an earthquake 13,000 kilometres (8,100 mi) away in
3551-621: The spring, according to news reports. A 2001 survey of the seabed near McMurdo revealed 15 vehicles, 26 shipping containers, and 603 fuel drums, as well as some 1,000 miscellaneous items dumped on an area of some 20 hectares (49 acres). Findings by scuba divers were reported in the State of the Environment Report, a New Zealand-sponsored study. The study by the government agency Antarctica New Zealand revealed that decades of pumping thousands of gallons of raw sewage from 1,200 summer residents into
3618-455: The underwater world of another grounded tabular iceberg. They encountered a surprising environment of fish and other sea life secreted within a deep iceberg crevasse . Discoveries included starfish , crabs , and ice fish. The latter were found to have burrowed thumb-sized holes into the ice. The expedition reported witnessing an iceberg exploding. Shards of ice erupted into the air as if a bomb went off only hours after divers surfaced and after
3685-453: The upper depths of the waters Antarctic penguins , emperor penguins , and Adélie penguins live in and around the sound. The Weddell seal , leopard seal , and crabeater seal have been spotted, as well as orcas . McMurdo Sound's role as a strategic waterway dates back to early 20th-century Antarctic exploration. British explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott built bases on the Sound's shoreline for their overland expeditions to
3752-534: The valleys constitute around 0.03% of the continent and form the largest ice-free region in Antarctica. The valley floors are covered with loose gravel, in which ice wedge polygonal patterned ground may be observed. The unique conditions in the Dry Valleys are caused, in part, by katabatic winds ; these occur when cold, dense air is pulled downhill by the force of gravity. The winds can reach speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph), heating as they descend and evaporating all water, ice and snow. The dry wind evaporates
3819-659: 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
3886-603: The warmest months, with average highs at −4 °C (25 °F). Polar winds are a driving force behind weather systems arising from three surface zones that converge at McMurdo Sound: the polar plateau and the Transantarctic Mountains , the Ross Ice Shelf, and the Ross Sea . These surface zones create a range of dynamic weather systems. Cold, heavy air descending rapidly from the polar plateau at elevations of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) or more spawns fierce katabatic winds. These dry winds can reach hurricane force when they reach
3953-583: 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 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
4020-458: 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 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
4087-673: 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 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
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#17328447202514154-617: 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
4221-482: 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 the continent's coastline. Captain Francis Crozier
4288-518: 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 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
4355-563: 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
4422-572: 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
4489-432: 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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