Perilous Situation of the Isabella and Alexander, Augt. 7th, 1818.
Creator 1:
Sir John Ross
Creator 1 dates:
1777-1856
Creator 1 role:
delt.
Creator 2:
Daniel Havell
Creator 2 role:
sculpt.
Place image published:
London
Image publisher:
I. Murray, Albemarle Street
Image date:
1819
Image function:
plate; following p. 76
Technique:
etching, aquatint
Image dimension height:
15.5 cm.
Image dimension width:
22.2 cm.
Page dimension height:
26.6 cm.
Page dimension width:
20 cm.
Materials medium:
ink
Materials support:
paper
Description:
Two ships enclosed by sea ice are tied together by their anchors. A crushed boat sinks between them. Men push a boat through the sea ice.
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:
In August the Isabella and Alexander were pushed by sea ice so that their sterns crashed together, crushing a boat that had been between them. Their cables and anchors broke, but the ice ceased to push against the ships, making it possible for them to pass by each other with little more damage except that the bower anchors were torn from the bows and remained hooked together until the Alexander's gave way.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.Image placed horizontally on page.
Time Period:
1801-1850
Subject Area:
Artifacts, industry, and human activities
geographic area:
Arctic
Subject headings:
Northwest Passage; Ships; Baffin Bay (North Atlantic Ocean); Sea ice
