CH. L] 
Ross's First Voyage 
417 
On the 13th February Ross gave up any attempt to 
go further along the barrier and resolved to steer for the 
magnetic pole and seek for a harbour in which to winter. 
The course was set for Franklin Island. On the 16th Mount 
Erebus was again sighted, and there was a splendid view 
of the whole line of coast. A great number of whales 
of two kinds were visible. Upon the cape ahead of the 
ships was conferred the name of Professor Gauss of 
Gottingen "who has done more than any other philo- 
sopher of the present day to advance the science of 
terrestrial magnetism." The range of mountains which 
Ross considered to be the seat of the magnetic pole was 
called after Prince Albert. 
The course was now northward along the coast. Two 
capes named after Captain Washington, the Secretary of 
the Royal Geographical Society, and Captain Johnson, 
R.N., were seen to enclose a bay which was called after 
Lieutenant Wood of the Erebus 1 . On February 20th the 
breeze freshened to a gale and next day they were off 
Cape Adare. Rounding this, the northern coast was 
reached, the furthest point seen being Cape North. The 
line of coast presented perpendicular ice cliffs, and no 
landing was possible. The course was therefore set to 
the N.W., and on the 2nd March land was seen ahead 
appearing like two islands, but really peaks of one of the 
Balleny Islands. On the 6th April, 1841, the Erebus and 
Terror arrived in the Derwent river, Tasmania. 
1 On January 31st there was "an unaccountable decrease of variation 
from 96 0 E. to 77° E., and then an increase of 16 0 . Ross formed the opinion 
that they had passed one of those extraordinary magnetic points first 
observed during Sir Edward Parry's second voyage, near the eastern 
entrance of Hecla and Fury Strait." Sir James Ross, Voyage to the 
Southern Seas, I, 229. 
m. 1. 
27 
