ROSS, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage, First edition of Ross's account of his privately funded second Arctic expedition in search of the North West Passage. Supported by the gin distiller Felix Booth after the Admiralty declined to back a further voyage, Ross sailed in the Victory in 1829 with a crew of 22, including his nephew, James Clark Ross. Although the expedition did not locate the passage, it produced important surveys of the Gulf of Boothia, King William Land, and the Boothia Peninsula, while James Clark Ross reached the north magnetic pole in 1831. The expedition also benefited from sustained contact with local Inuit communities, whose knowledge and diet proved crucial to survival during four winters trapped in the Arctic. Observations made on the value of fresh meat and oil in preventing scurvy contributed significantly to later polar exploration, helping ensure the survival of all but three members of the crew despite the eventual abandonment of the Victory. Contemporary readers admired the work both for its narrative of endurance and for its handsome production, described by Field as a "wonderfully interesting narrative of human endurance" in which "the sumptuous printing makes every page a picture".

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