LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
223 
agreement under which you embarked in the expedition with 
Capt. Ross ? There was no written agreement, no specific agree¬ 
ment, but it was quite understood that having been so long em¬ 
ployed on former similar voyages, I best understood the nature 
of the navigation of those seas, and therefore that I should render 
some important assistance to him in his undertaking. 
Was any stipulation entered into with Mr. Booth for you* 
going personally on the expedition, as a condition of his assist¬ 
ance being given? Mr. Booth said to me, that it depended only 
on me whether or not he would then decide whether the expedi¬ 
tion should go or not. ‘'if,” said he, “you decide that you will 
accompany the expedition, I will decide that the expedition 
shall go, but if you hesitate to say whether you will accompany 
it, I must also hesitate to decide.*' 
What portion of the duties devolved upon you in the progress 
of the expedition ? The conduct of the ship was entirely en¬ 
trusted to my care. I certainly conducted the expedition from its 
commencement to its termination. 
In the various surveys which took place, what part did you 
take of the geographical discoveries made ? The whole extent 
of geographical discovery, is perhaps, between six and seven 
hundred miles of new land ; out of that six or seven hundred 
miles, probably about two hundred miles were discovered by the 
whole expedition in the ship ; the remaining four or five hun¬ 
dred miles were discovered by myself, in the conduct of parties 
detached from the ship: those expeditions were severally plan¬ 
ned and conducted by myself. 
Capt. Ross not accompanying you? Capt. Ross not accom¬ 
panying me. 
Did you personally make the observations from which you in¬ 
ferred you had discovered the true position of the north magnetic 
pole ? I did ; for two years previous to the time I went to the 
magnetic pole, I was engaged in observations, necessary to de¬ 
termine its exact position; having ascertained and determined 
that exact spot, I then conducted a party to the point so deter¬ 
mined, and there I made a series of observations, by which I 
ascertained that to be the exact position of the magnetic pole. 
