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Ross John (24.06.1777 – 30.08.1856)
Born in Inch, Scotland into a middle-income family, he lost his mother at the age of two. In 1786 he entered the cabin ship on a warship. On the advice of the commander to obtain strong sea skills in 1790 he moved to the merchant navy, visited the West Indies and the Baltic three times. In 1794 - 1799 he served on the ships of the British East India Company, acquired knowledge of astronavigation. From September 1799, Ross was again in the navy: sailed in the Northern and Mediterranean seas, participated in the Napoleonic wars; in the battle of 1805 received several wounds. In 1808-1811 he fought with the Russians in the Baltic, was captured by the Swedes, and after his release he became an advisor to the Swedish flagship. He returned home in 1812 and until 1815 he cruised in the Baltic and North Seas. In 1818, Ross led the first British expedition to the American Arctic after a nearly two-century break. The initiative of resuming the voyages belonged to the Secretary of the English Admiralty, J. Barrow, who always knew how to achieve his goals, using any means for that. The ships of the expedition "Isabella" and "Alexander" reached the Baffin Sea and went to its northern part in order to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean. It was possible to penetrate 70° N and correct the map drawn up by U. Baffin, having attributed the line of the Greenland coast almost 10° to the west and 200 km to the north. Revealed the Melville Bay and, having waited a week-long storm and snowfall, reached nearly 77° N. In the north, they saw the entrance to the Smith Strait, blocked by ice, passed the ice-filled Jones Strait and entered the clear waters of the third strait - Lancaster, but because of the mirage they considered it to be a bay and retreated. On the way home, we traced all the eastern seashore of Baffin Land; the shooting of its individual segments remained the main one for the maps of the island until 1955. Ross's second Arctic voyage with four winters (1829–1833) was marked by a series of discoveries and refinements, mostly made by his nephew James Ross. The expedition proved that the Prince Regent's Bay is a strait; discovered the North Magnetic Pole, the Butiya Hall, the eponymous peninsula and the James-Ross Strait, laid on the map more than 750 km of the coastal line of the continent. At home, D. Ross was elevated to knighthood, was awarded the Order of the Bath and gold medals of six European countries, including Russia. Ross owns the first and true characteristic of the Eskimos. The success in observing wildlife should include its discovery and an accurate description of several types of invertebrates. Later, the researcher for some time "walked away" from the Arctic, held civilian positions, including the position of consul in Stockholm (1839–1846). However, in 1850, the “old sea wolf” set out on two of its own little boats to search for D. Franklin, but in 1851 he returned with nothing. Daring, in his own words, swimming was not in vain: he was very sick. Realizing that his days are numbered, in 1854, Ross made several trips around England. He died in London, buried in the cemetery Kensal Green. The open bay is 3 km wide on the eastern coast of the southern part of the island Prince Carl Forland. The coordinates are 78° 24.0'N 11° 52.5'E. |
