Edward Belcher

Sir Edward Belcher (27 February, 1799 – March 18, 1877) was a British naval officer and explorer.

Related Topics:
27 February - 1799 - March 18 - 1877 - British - Naval officer - Explorer

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Belcher was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and entered the royal navy in 1812. In 1825 he accompanied Frederick William Beechey's expedition to the Pacific and Bering Strait, as a surveyor. He subsequently commanded a surveying ship on the north and west coasts of Africa and in the British seas, and in 1836 took up the work which Beechey left unfinished on the Pacific coast of South America. This was on board the bomb vessel HMS Sulphur, which was ordered to return to England in 1839 by the Trans-Pacific route. Belcher made various observations at a number of islands which he visited, was delayed by being despatched to take part in the war in China in 1840-1841, and reached home only in 1842. In 1843 he was knighted, and was now engaged in HMS Samarang, in surveying work in the East Indies, the Philippines, &c., until 1847.

Related Topics:
Halifax - Nova Scotia - Royal navy - Frederick William Beechey - Pacific - Bering Strait - Surveyor - Africa - South America - Bomb vessel - HMS ''Sulphur'' - England - China - HMS ''Samarang'' - East Indies - Philippines

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In 1852 he was given command of the government Arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. This was unsuccessful; Belcher's inability to render himself popular with his subordinates was peculiarly unfortunate in an Arctic voyage, and he was not wholly suited to command vessels among ice. Four of the five ships were abandoned in pack ice, for which Belcher was court-marshalled but acquitted. One of the ships, HMS Resolute, was later recovered, intact, by an American whaler.

Related Topics:
Arctic - John Franklin - Pack ice - HMS ''Resolute'' - American - Whaler

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This was Belcher's last active service, but he became K.C.B. in 1867 and an admiral in 1872.

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He published a Treatise on Nautical Surveying (1835), Narrative of a Voyage round the World performed in H.M.S. Sulphur, 1836-1842 (1843), Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang during 1843-1846 (1848; the Zoology of the Voyage was separately dealt with by some of his colleagues, 1850), and The Last of the Arctic Voyages (1855); besides minor works, including a novel, Horatio Howard Brenton (1856), a story of the navy.

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