Crimson Cliffs. A View of the Coloured Snow in Lat. 76. 25 N. & Long. 68. W.
Creator 1:
Sir John Ross
Creator 1 dates:
1777-1856
Creator 1 role:
Drawn by
Creator 2:
Daniel Havell
Creator 2 role:
Engraved by
Place image published:
London
Image publisher:
I. Murray, Albemarle Street
Image date:
1819
Image function:
fold-out plate; following p. 138
Technique:
aquatint, hand coloring
Image dimension height:
16 cm.
Image dimension width:
40 cm.
Page dimension height:
25.1 cm.
Page dimension width:
54 cm.
Materials medium:
ink, colors
Materials support:
paper
Description:
View of a shoreline with cliffs covered with white, pink, and red snow.
Source creator:
Ross, John, Sir, 1777-1856
Source Title:
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.
Source place of publication:
London
Source publisher:
John Murray, Albemarle-Street
Source date:
1819
notes:
These cliffs were found in Baffin Bay west of Cape York. When their color was noted, Ross sent some of the crew to investigate the cause of it. The snow was colored to a depth of 10-12 feet. Samples were taken and examined on board ship. It was concluded that the red matter was of vegetable origin and may have come from some plants that grew at the tops of the cliffs.Sir John Ross joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine. In 1818 he was appointed commander of an expedition sponsored by the British Admiralty to find a northwest passage. The ships were the Isabella and the Alexander (commanded by William Parry), specially fitted out to withstand Arctic exploration and to make wintering over in the Arctic possible. His mission was to find a passage, note the tides, currents, ice conditions, effects of magnetism, and to collect specimens. Ross experienced mirages in the form of mountains that made him turn back quite early in the exploration. He made two more trips to the Arctic: one in 1829 during which he found the magnetic north pole and spent four years in the Arctic while losing only three men, and one in 1850 when he was 72 to try to find the party of Sir John Franklin.
