Rare and important: this early nineteenth-century Admiralty chart of the Arctic compiles the results of British naval exploration between 1818 and 1824.
After the trauma of Cook’s last voyage, a hiatus of forty years ensued before the Admiralty took up the question of the Northwest Passage again. Reports of icebergs being spotted around Baffins Bay from William Scoresby and others in 1817, prompted the Admiralty to despatch an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage led by John Ross, with William Parry second in command. Departing in 1818, the voyage got as far as the entrance to Lancaster Sound where Ross was deceived by the appearance of what he subsequently called the Croker Mountains.
Situated between Devon and Baffin Islands, Lancaster Sound forms the eastern entrance to the Parry Channel, after which one would travel through Viscount Melville Sound, then the M’Clure Strait en route to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.
William Parry, sailing with him, thought Ross turned back too soon. He wasn’t the only one. On returning to England, a hostile exchange of pamphlets ensued between Ross and Edward Sabine over the issue. Parry was given his own voyages in 1821-23, which achieved unprecedented progress through Lancaster Sound and into Barrow Strait. Parry’s later expeditions (1821–1823) further refined knowledge of Arctic channels, while George Lyon’s 1824 voyage contributed additional coastal observations. Together, these expeditions corrected long-standing cartographic errors and transformed European understanding of the Arctic seaways.
This chart synthesizes surveys by John Ross and William Edward Parry during the expeditions of 1818–1820, together with the later discoveries of Parry in 1822–1823 and George Francis Lyon in 1824. It presents the most authoritative contemporary depiction of Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, and Barrow Strait.
It carefully delineates the coastlines of western Greenland and eastern Baffin Island, extending south toward Hudson Bay and northward into the channels of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Radiating lines from a central point emphasize hydrographic surveying and navigation, while coastal names, inlets, and promontories record the cumulative progress of British exploration. The chart reflects the Admiralty’s effort to consolidate multiple voyages into a single, standardized reference for navigation and further discovery.
As an official Admiralty production, this chart represents the state of British Arctic knowledge in the mid-1820s, uniting exploration, navigation, and imperial ambition. It is a key document of the era when systematic naval surveying replaced speculative geography, and it stands as a foundational reference for the history of Arctic exploration and the nineteenth-century search for the Northwest Passage.
OCLC locates a single copy at the BL.
