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Arctic Exploration
Bringing Overlooked and Lesser-Known History into Focus
Blake Williams
August 16, 2025
August 16th
Arctic Exploration
1829
“I went on shore with all the officers, to take formal possession of the new-discovered land; and at one o'clock, being a few minutes after seven in London, the colours were displayed with the usual ceremony, and the health of the King drunk, together with that of the founder of our expedition, after whom the land was named. From the highest part of this land, which was upwards of a hundred feet above the level of the sea, we had a good view of the bay and the adjoining shores, and had the satisfaction to find that the ice was in motion and fast clearing away.”
Sir John Ross, knighted in 1834, was a Scottish polar explorer and the first European to enter the Gulf of Boothia, now part of modern-day Nunavut. Sailing from Scotland aboard the Victory, Ross ventured through Baffin Bay in search of the Northwest Passage to the Canadian Arctic. On August 16, 1829, his crew claimed newly discovered land for Britain, naming the gulf after his patron, Felix Booth.
Despite this symbolic ‘victory,’ the expedition faced significant challenges. After reaching Boothia, the crew endured four brutal winters trapped in the ice, surviving on provisions left by earlier explorers. However, encounters with the Inuit proved invaluable, offering mapping knowledge and survival techniques. A major achievement came on June 1, 1831, when James Clark Ross, John Ross’s nephew, discovered the North Magnetic Pole. However, by 1832, several shipmates had died to disease and frostbite and the Victory was abandoned. They were finally rescued in 1833 by the Isabella, a ship from a previous expedition.