TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 125 



It is no less our duty to recognize the services of Admiral Sir Edward Belcher, 

 who was a constant attendant at this Section, and was a great contributor to the 

 proceedings of several branches of this Association. As a marine surveyor, he 

 leaves behind hiru a large amount of work in all quarters of the globe, which is 

 celebrated for accuracy. He published a very able work on ' Marine Surveying/ 

 The greatest portion of his life was devoted to the surveying service in all parts of 

 the world. He first came into notice as lieutenant of the ' Blossom,' in the expedition 

 to meet Franklin in 182G-27, on the latter's journey along the coast to ascertain the 

 practicability of a North-west Passage ; and his last service was in command of 

 an Arctic expedition in search of Franklin's ships, when a large extent of new 

 discovery was added to our charts of the Arctic seas ; and the rescue of McClure 

 from his perilous position was accomplished by the expedition under his orders ; 

 so that he took a large share in the completion of the so-called North-west 

 Passage. 



At the very time that the British Association was holding its last meeting at 

 Plymouth, Captain James 0. Boss was engaged on his memorable expedition into 

 the Antarctic Sea, a region replete with interest for discovery and scientific in- 

 vestigation. The ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,' old bomb-ships, were selected for this 

 service, names for ever famed to posterity. James Boss and his second, Captain 

 F. B. M. Crozier, afterwards second to Franklin, and survivor, in command, were 

 officers of tried experience and scientific attainments, who served many a year in 

 all the voyages under the renowned Parry. Men endowed with less courage and 

 practical knowledge would never have faced the perils and hazards in pushing 

 through streams of floating ice and icebergs for hundreds of miles, until arrested 

 by the formidable impenetrable precipice of eternal glacier which caps the south 

 pole axis of our globe. 



This expedition was sent forth by a representation from the British Association, 

 in 1838, on behalf of those eminent savants of the day in this country and in 

 Europe, chiefly in the cause of terrestrial magnetism in the southern hemisphere, 

 in connexion with a system of simultaneous observations which were being con- 

 ducted at fixed stations at various points on the earth's surface ; and to no better 

 hands could this great undertaking have been entrusted than to James Boss, who 

 fixed the position of and planted the British flag on the north magnetic pole. 



The expedition set out in August 1839, and returned in safety in September 

 1843, bringing results of the highest importance in the history of maritime discovery, 

 the crowning feature being the discovery of Victoria Land, lying between the 

 parallels of 70° and 78° S., with two high mountains, named Erebus and Terror, 

 respectively 12,400 and 10,900 feet elevation above the level of the sea, 

 Erebus being a volcano in full action, emitting flame and smoke in awful majesty 

 amidst its glacial and silvery solitudes. The southern progress was arrested by a 

 coast presenting a vertical cliff of ice from two to three hundred feet high, which 

 being higher than the ships' mastheads precluded any observation into the 

 interior of this supposed continent. This imposing icy barrier was examined for 

 some hundred miles ; it is the nursery of icebergs, and was found inaccessible 

 everywhere. 



The position of the South magnetic pole was laid within the icy barrier, and 

 approximately determined from lat. 76° 12' S., and long. 104° E. ; the magnetic dip 

 there observed was 88° 40' ; the pole was assigned to be 160 miles from the ship on 

 the 17th February, 1841. 



Iu the following year a further examination of the icy barrier was attempted, 

 and the highest southern Latitude ever attained by man was on the 23rd February, 

 1842, when the mean latitude of the two ships was 78° 10' S. Throughout I lie 

 voyage a series of magnetic observations were recorded without intermission, witli 

 the utmost regularity, thus accomplishing the main object in view: the mass of 

 work brought home has taken some years to discuss, under the direction of 

 Sir Ed. Sabine. 



In this expedition oceanic physics was a prominent work ; deep-sea soundings and 

 dredgings were frequently obtained ; serial observations for temperature, the con- 

 ditions of sea-water at the surface and at great depths, have supplied data for 

 theorizing on oceanic circulation. As many as 161 deep-sea temperature soundings 



