John Knight tells the compelling story of the Ross expedition to the Antarctic in this meticulously researched book
Review by Shafik Meghji
The exploits of the likes of Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott during the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries captured the popular imagination at the time and have never quite let go. By contrast, James Clark Ross’s similarly momentous expedition – made on a pair of wooden sailing ships, the Erebus and the Terror, the latter commanded by Francis Crozier – a few decades earlier has been largely overlooked, despite a series of landmark achievements. They include making the first circumnavigation of Antarctica in almost 70 years, breaking the ‘furthest south’ record, and several ground-breaking discoveries, including the perilous Ross Sea and the vast Ross Ice Shelf, the largest of its kind on the continent.
John Knight’s meticulously researched The Magnetism of Antarctica aims to ensure that this wind-powered, chart-free voyage into the unknown receives the credit it deserves. Split into three main sections, the book opens with a detailed account of the expedition and the important research on the Earth’s magnetic field carried out en route. Vivid descriptions help to bring the journey to life: a 28-hour storm that lashed the ships as they were stuck in pack ice; a fish being washed aboard and immediately freezing solid to the deck; a near-fatal collision involving a massive iceberg; the first sight of a pair of Antarctic volcanoes that would subsequently be named Erebus and Terror in honour of the expedition’s vessels.
The latter two sections of the book provide pen portraits of the sailors, as well as the other ships on which they served. Commendably, Knight – author of The Crossing, which focuses on the 1958 Trans-Antarctic Expedition – doesn’t merely focus on the captains, commanders and officers, but also provides interesting snapshots of the lives of the gunroom stewards, sailmakers and various able seamen.
Overall, The Magnetism of Antarctica makes a compelling case that the ‘almost forgotten and extremely hazardous’ Ross Expedition should be given far greater recognition in the annals of polar exploration.
