CHAPTER XII 
■ • ' *• ■' ■ 
JAMES CLARK ROSS 
“With the tumultuous past the teeming future, 
Glorious with visions of a full success. ,, 
— Robert Browning. 
T HE British Antarctic Expedition, fitted out by the 
Admiralty in accordance with the plan submitted by 
the British Association and approved by the Royal 
Society, was designed for its commander, whose personal 
qualities and exceptional experience made him the one 
man possible for the work. It would be interesting to 
give details of the earlier life and training of James Clark 
Ross, but unfortunately the data for such a memoir are 
very scanty. 
The Ross family possessed the property of Balsarroch, 
in the parish of Kilmalcolm, Wigtownshire, at least as 
early as the beginning of the eighteenth century, and in 
1761 the property came into the possession of the Rev. 
Andrew Ross, minister of the parish of Inch, who left 
four sons. The eldest of these was General Andrew Ross, 
who apparently predeceased his father, for the second son, 
George Ross, merchant in London, succeeded to the estate 
in 1792. The fourth son was Admiral Sir John Ross, 
famous as an Arctic explorer, who was born in 1777, and 
after a life of strenuous effort, died in 1856. George 
Ross left three sons, the eldest, Colonel Alexander Ross, 
who succeeded to the estate in 1800, while the youngest 
was James Clark Ross, the hero of the South Polar ex- 
pedition. He was born in London on April 15th, 1800, 
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