



314 Voyage of Capt. Sir James C. Ross to the Antarctic. 



a committee consisting of Sir John Herschel, Professors Whewell 

 and Lloyd, and Mr. Peacock. These gentlemen presented the 



subject to the attention of the British government in a series of 

 resolutions adopted by the Association, recommending — 



1. A cooperation with the simultaneous observations made and 

 making in Germany and other countries — to be extended to vari- 



ous parts of the British dominions — especially Canada, Ceylon, 



St. Helena, Van Diemens Land, and the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. These observations were proposed to include the direction, 

 intensity and dip of the needle — also, the hourly changes, and on 

 appointed days, its momentary fluctuations. 

 { 3. The observations to be made in high southern latitudes, be- 



lli tween the meridians of New Holland and Cape Horn, were re- 

 garded as particularly important. 



The subject was still farther enforced by the powerful influ- 

 ence of the Royal Society and its President, Lord Northampton, 

 who recommended also the establishment of fixed magnetic ob- 

 servatories in various and remote places. 



On the 8th of April, 1839, Capt. Ross was commissioned to 

 take charge of the Erebus, a bomb vessel of three hundred and 

 seventy-five tons, of great strength and containing capacity; the 

 Terror of three hundred and forty tons, prepared in 1836 for the 

 arctic seas, being then fitted up so as to be ice-proof, was placed 

 under the direction of Commander Crozier. Each ship had a 

 complement of sixty-four persons, and every provision was made 

 for safety and health : ample means of every kind for accomplish- 

 ing the objects and meeting the vicissitudes in prospect were 

 supplied in the most liberal manner. 



The council of the Royal Society drew up a report, making a 

 small book of one hundred pages, containing a detailed account 

 of every object of inquiry which the diligence and science of 

 the several committees could devise, including geology, zoology 

 and botany. The most important scientific results of the expe- 

 dition were transmitted to the Royal Society, and were consigned 

 to their Transactions in the regular course 'of publication, only 

 passim notices being given in the Narrative. 



The Expedition sailed from the Thames on the 30th of Sep- 

 tember, 1839, and the 5th of October, they bade adieu to Englayd. 



In crossing the bay of Biscay in roudi weather, they measured 

 the height of the waves which did not exceed' thirty-six feet- 

 No bottom was found with from three hundred to six hundred 

 fathoms of line. 



Madeira. — Arrived at this island, they at once commenced 

 their magnetic observations. By means of mountain barometers, 

 they ascertained the height of Pico Ruivo to be 609608 or 

 6102-90 English feet, varying with the modes of computation. 

 Captain Wilkes found the height to be 6237 feet above half-tide. 



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