1818 First British Northwest Passage Expedition (John Ross aboard Isabella with the Alexander)

In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the British Admiralty began to look elsewhere for their overmanned and oversupplied forces and thus began its focus on the Arctic and the commercial prospects of a Northwest Passage. Ross commanded three major Arctic expeditions: 1818, when he failed to penetrate Lancaster Sound to discover its portion of the Northwest Passage; 1829-1833, when his nephew James Clark Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole; 1850, when Ross led one of the earliest Franklin Search expeditions. He died in 1856

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.

Ross, Sir John. Second edition. Two volumes.(London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1819).

1818 First British Northwest Passage Expedition (John Ross aboard Isabella with the Alexander).
Arctic Reading: Great Britain

Preview

The first nineteenth-century attempt to locate a Northwest Passage was commanded by John Ross, a moderately successful expedition that ruined his reputation. John Barrow of the Admiralty was so outraged at Ross’s failure to explore fully Lancaster Sound that he did everything in his power to discredit Ross after this expedition.

A Voyage of Discovery….

Ross, John, Sir. 2nd ed. Two volumes. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1819.

1818 First British Northwest Passage Expedition (John Ross aboard Isabella with the Alexander).
Maritime Reading

Preview

Ross was encouraged to attempt this early expedition searching for the Northwest Passage, but severely criticized by John Barrow for failing in that search. He had some significant accomplishments but this trip effectively ended his career with the Admiralty.