John Biscoe
Encyclopedia
John Biscoe was an English mariner
and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land
and Graham Land
along the coast of Antarctica. The expedition also found a number of islands in the vicinity of Graham Land, including the Biscoe Islands
that were named after him.
, Middlesex
, England. During March 1812, aged seventeen, he joined the Royal Navy
and served during the 1812–1815 war
against the United States. By the time of his discharge in 1815, he had become an Acting Master
. Thereafter he sailed on board merchant shipping as a mate
or master, mostly to the East
or West Indies.
company Samuel Enderby & Sons
appointed Biscoe master
of the brig
Tula and leader of an expedition to find new sealing grounds in the Southern Ocean
. Accompanied by the cutter Lively, the Tula left London and by December had reached the South Shetland Islands
. The expedition then sailed further south, crossing the Antarctic Circle
on 22 January 1831, before turning east at 60°S
.
A month later, on 24 February 1831, the expedition sighted bare mountain tops through the ocean ice. Biscoe correctly surmised that they were part of a continent and named the area Enderby Land
in honour of his patrons. On 28 February, a headland
was spotted, which Biscoe named Cape Ann
; the mountain atop the headland would later be named Mount Biscoe
. Biscoe kept the expedition in the area while he began to chart the coastline, but after a month his and his crews' health were deteriorating. The expedition sailed toward Australia, reaching Hobart
, Tasmania in May, but not before two crew members had died from scurvy
.
The expedition wintered in Hobart before heading back toward the Antarctic. On 15 February 1832, Adelaide Island
was discovered and two days later the Biscoe Islands
. A further four days later, on 21 February, more extensive coastline was spotted. Surmising again that he had encountered a continent, Biscoe named the area "Graham Land", after First Lord of the Admiralty
Sir James Graham. Biscoe landed on Anvers Island
and claimed to have sighted the mainland of the Antarctic continent.
Biscoe again began charting the new coastline the expedition had found and by the end of April 1832 he had become the third man (after James Cook
and Fabian von Bellingshausen
) to circumnavigate
the Antarctic continent. On the journey home, during July, the Lively was wrecked at the Falkland Islands
. The expedition nonetheless returned to London safely by the beginning of 1833.
As well as exploring the Antarctic coastline, the expedition had also tried in vain to rediscover the Aurora Islands
and Nimrod Islands
. These were islands in the Southern Ocean that other mariners had claimed to have found, but eventually, during the twentieth century, they were declared to be phantom
islands.
During 1833, Biscoe was again commissioned by Samuel Enderby & Sons to make another voyage of exploration. However, he resigned from the effort, probably because of his health. He instead engaged in the West Indies trade in a much warmer climate. He next took part in sailing ventures in Australian waters.
John Biscoe died at sea during 1843 while on a voyage to bring his family from Tasmania
back to England. He was 49 years old.
were discovered off the west coast of Graham Land
in February 1832, during his Antarctic circumnavigation aboard Tula and Lively. Mount Biscoe
is a distinctive 700m black peak, the high point of Cape Ann in East Antarctica
. Discovered by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
(by air in 1929) and Mawson
(1930), it is thought to be have been seen by Biscoe in 1831.
Two British research ships have been named in his honour. After conversion to an ice strengthened research ship for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, HMS Pretext was renamed . She reverted to RRS Pretext in 1956, to allow the name to be used for , a new ship with a longer range and greater cargo-carrying capacity.
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
and explorer who commanded the first expedition known to have sighted the areas named Enderby Land
Enderby Land
Enderby Land is a projecting land mass of Antarctica, extending from Shinnan Glacier at to William Scoresby Bay at .Enderby Land was discovered in February 1831 by John Biscoe in the whaling brig Tula, and named after the Enderby Brothers of London, owners of the Tula, who encouraged their...
and Graham Land
Graham Land
Graham Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in...
along the coast of Antarctica. The expedition also found a number of islands in the vicinity of Graham Land, including the Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud, Rabot, Lavoisier and Watkins, lying parallel to the W coast of Graham Land and extending some in a NE–SW direction...
that were named after him.
Early life
Biscoe was born in EnfieldEnfield Town
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, England. During March 1812, aged seventeen, he joined the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and served during the 1812–1815 war
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
against the United States. By the time of his discharge in 1815, he had become an Acting Master
Master mariner
A Master Mariner or MM is the professional qualification required for someone to serve as the person in charge or person in command of a commercial vessel. In England, the term Master Mariner has been in use at least since the 13th century, reflecting the fact that in guild or livery company terms,...
. Thereafter he sailed on board merchant shipping as a mate
Chief Mate
A Chief Mate or Chief Officer, usually also synonymous with the First Mate or First Officer , is a licensed member and head of the deck department of a merchant ship...
or master, mostly to the East
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
or West Indies.
Southern Ocean expedition, 1830–1833
In 1830, the whalingWhaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
company Samuel Enderby & Sons
Samuel Enderby & Sons
Samuel Enderby & Sons was a whaling and sealing company based in London, England, founded circa 1775 by Samuel Enderby . The company encouraged their captains to combine exploration with their business activities, and sponsored several of the earliest expeditions to the subantarctic, Southern Ocean...
appointed Biscoe master
Master mariner
A Master Mariner or MM is the professional qualification required for someone to serve as the person in charge or person in command of a commercial vessel. In England, the term Master Mariner has been in use at least since the 13th century, reflecting the fact that in guild or livery company terms,...
of the brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Tula and leader of an expedition to find new sealing grounds in the Southern Ocean
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
. Accompanied by the cutter Lively, the Tula left London and by December had reached the South Shetland Islands
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of . By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the Islands' sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories and they are free for use by any signatory for...
. The expedition then sailed further south, crossing the Antarctic Circle
Antarctic Circle
The Antarctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs south of the Equator.-Description:...
on 22 January 1831, before turning east at 60°S
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
.
A month later, on 24 February 1831, the expedition sighted bare mountain tops through the ocean ice. Biscoe correctly surmised that they were part of a continent and named the area Enderby Land
Enderby Land
Enderby Land is a projecting land mass of Antarctica, extending from Shinnan Glacier at to William Scoresby Bay at .Enderby Land was discovered in February 1831 by John Biscoe in the whaling brig Tula, and named after the Enderby Brothers of London, owners of the Tula, who encouraged their...
in honour of his patrons. On 28 February, a headland
Headlands and bays
Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...
was spotted, which Biscoe named Cape Ann
Cape Ann and Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann is a cape on the coast of East Antarctica, surmounted by Mount Biscoe rising to a peak of 700 metres.It was first photographed from the air in December 1929 during a Norwegian expedition led by explorer and aviator Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen...
; the mountain atop the headland would later be named Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann and Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann is a cape on the coast of East Antarctica, surmounted by Mount Biscoe rising to a peak of 700 metres.It was first photographed from the air in December 1929 during a Norwegian expedition led by explorer and aviator Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen...
. Biscoe kept the expedition in the area while he began to chart the coastline, but after a month his and his crews' health were deteriorating. The expedition sailed toward Australia, reaching Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
, Tasmania in May, but not before two crew members had died from scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
.
The expedition wintered in Hobart before heading back toward the Antarctic. On 15 February 1832, Adelaide Island
Adelaide Island
Adelaide Island or Isla Adelaida or Isla Belgrano is a large, mainly ice-covered island, long and wide, lying at the north side of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The island lies within the Argentine, British and Chilean Antarctic claims, at .Adelaide Island was...
was discovered and two days later the Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud, Rabot, Lavoisier and Watkins, lying parallel to the W coast of Graham Land and extending some in a NE–SW direction...
. A further four days later, on 21 February, more extensive coastline was spotted. Surmising again that he had encountered a continent, Biscoe named the area "Graham Land", after First Lord of the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
Sir James Graham. Biscoe landed on Anvers Island
Anvers Island
Anvers Island or Antwerp Island or Antwerpen Island or Isla Amberes is a high, mountainous island long, which is the largest feature in the Palmer Archipelago, lying southwest of Brabant Island at the southwestern end of the group. Anvers Island is located at...
and claimed to have sighted the mainland of the Antarctic continent.
Biscoe again began charting the new coastline the expedition had found and by the end of April 1832 he had become the third man (after James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
and Fabian von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen was an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, who ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral...
) to circumnavigate
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
the Antarctic continent. On the journey home, during July, the Lively was wrecked at the Falkland Islands
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...
. The expedition nonetheless returned to London safely by the beginning of 1833.
As well as exploring the Antarctic coastline, the expedition had also tried in vain to rediscover the Aurora Islands
Aurora Islands
The Aurora Islands was a group of three phantom islands first reported in 1762 by the Spanish merchant ship Aurora while sailing from Lima to Cádiz. The Aurora's officers reported sighting them again in 1774. The Spanish ship San Miguel fixed their location at 52°37'S, 47°49'W...
and Nimrod Islands
Nimrod Islands
The Nimrod Islands were a group of islands first reported in 1828 by Captain Eilbeck of the ship Nimrod while sailing from Port Jackson around Cape Horn...
. These were islands in the Southern Ocean that other mariners had claimed to have found, but eventually, during the twentieth century, they were declared to be phantom
Phantom island
Phantom islands are islands that were believed to exist, and appeared on maps for a period of time during recorded history, but were later removed after they were proved to be nonexistent...
islands.
During 1833, Biscoe was again commissioned by Samuel Enderby & Sons to make another voyage of exploration. However, he resigned from the effort, probably because of his health. He instead engaged in the West Indies trade in a much warmer climate. He next took part in sailing ventures in Australian waters.
John Biscoe died at sea during 1843 while on a voyage to bring his family from Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
back to England. He was 49 years old.
Memorials
A group of islands and a mountain are named for him. The Biscoe IslandsBiscoe Islands
Biscoe Islands is a series of islands, of which the principal ones are Renaud, Rabot, Lavoisier and Watkins, lying parallel to the W coast of Graham Land and extending some in a NE–SW direction...
were discovered off the west coast of Graham Land
Graham Land
Graham Land is that portion of the Antarctic Peninsula which lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee and the US Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names, in...
in February 1832, during his Antarctic circumnavigation aboard Tula and Lively. Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann and Mount Biscoe
Cape Ann is a cape on the coast of East Antarctica, surmounted by Mount Biscoe rising to a peak of 700 metres.It was first photographed from the air in December 1929 during a Norwegian expedition led by explorer and aviator Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen...
is a distinctive 700m black peak, the high point of Cape Ann in East Antarctica
East Antarctica
East Antarctica, also called Greater Antarctica, constitutes the majority of the Antarctic continent, lying on the Indian Ocean side of the Transantarctic Mountains...
. Discovered by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was a Norwegian aviation pioneer, polar explorer and businessman. Among his achievements, he is generally regarded as the founder of the Royal Norwegian Air Force....
(by air in 1929) and Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
(1930), it is thought to be have been seen by Biscoe in 1831.
Two British research ships have been named in his honour. After conversion to an ice strengthened research ship for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, HMS Pretext was renamed . She reverted to RRS Pretext in 1956, to allow the name to be used for , a new ship with a longer range and greater cargo-carrying capacity.
External links
- Information page for the John Biscoe archives held at the Scott Polar Research InstituteScott Polar Research InstituteThe Scott Polar Research Institute is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south of Cambridge ....
, University of Cambridge. - Chronology of Antarctic Events