Memoirs, [circa 1853].

1 v. (circa 500 p.) ; 19 cm.

English

Ex libris Sir John Ross. Purchased from Martayan Lan on the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Fund, 2006.

Sir John Ross (1777-1856) was a British naval officer and Arctic explorer. After volunteering for the Royal Navy at the age of nine and rising to the rank of Commander in the Napoleonic Wars, Ross led an 1818 expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. He also headed two later, privately funded, voyages of exploration in 1829-1833 and 1850. Ross published several reports and controversial pamphlets in connection with these voyages, including an attack on the Admiralty for its failure to rescue the Franklin expedition in 1847.

Holograph fair copy of a lengthy narrative of Ross's life from birth until the start of his first voyage of discovery in the spring of 1818. Ross gives particular attention to his naval career, and details his early voyages to the West Indies; his five years in the service of the East India Company; and his promotions and battles under Lord de Saumarez during the Napoleonic Wars, especially in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The memoir also includes copies of many documents and letters pertaining to Ross, including the January 14, 1818 letter giving him command of his first Arctic expedition. The volume closes with a note by Ross stating that he "shall proceed to what occurred after" that voyage.

February 26, 2008

Sir John Ross, Memoirs. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Sir John Ross, Memoirs. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Memoirs.