l899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 49 



to go by way of Spitzbergen, Cabot's favorite way, and two via 

 Baffin Bay. The first were under the command of Captain 

 Buchan and Lieutenant Franklin, being the first time the latter 

 officer made a trip to the Arctics. The second two were under 

 the command of Captain John Ross and I^ieut. E. W. Parry. 

 Both expeditions sailed in April* 18 18. It was in these circum- 

 stances that John Ross came to be connected with our Arctic 

 Island District. 



Ross coasted along the west shores of Greenland, bestowing 

 place-names all along the coast. When he arrived at the south- 

 ern end of Smith Channel he named the two opposing capes — 

 one on Greenland and one on our territory — Cape Isabella and 

 Cape Alexandria, after his two vessels. He sailed south, nam- 

 ing the bays and islands and inlets he explored, and returned to 

 England with the intelligence that the north water of Baffin Bay 

 was a good spot for the whale fisheries, and it was accordingly 

 utilized for many a year, bringing much profit to the nation. 



In 1829, Ross, by the assistance of Sir Felix Booth, made a 

 second voyage in which he entered Prince Regent Sound and 

 went south along the eastern side of a land he named Boothia 

 Felix. On August i6th he wrote in his journal, "I went on 

 shore with all the officers, took formal possession of the new dis- 

 covered land and at one o'clock the colours were displayed and the 

 King's health drunk, together with that of the founder of our 

 expedition after whom the land was named, Mr. Sheriff Booth, 

 an old and intimate friend." Brown Island was named "after 

 the amiable sister of Mr. Booth," and the harbour was named 

 Port Elizabeth "in compliment to a sister of the patron of our 

 expedition." He wintered in Boothia. He subsequently named 

 and partially explored King William's Land to the west of the 

 Peninsula of Boothia and passed two more winters in that region. 

 As he could not get his vessel out he went to Fury Beach, where 

 he passed his fourth winter, 1832-33. Eventually he and his 

 men were picked up by a whaler in Barrow Strait and taken to 

 England. I have counted more than 200 names conferred on 

 places in Franklin territory by John Ross.* 



*Mr. Otto Klotz reminds me that Sir James Clark Ross, who was with 

 his uncle, Sir John, on this expedition discovered (loth June, 1831) the position 

 of the North Mag-netic Pole on Melville Peninsula. 



