James Weddell

James Weddell ( born August 24, 1787 Ostend, Belgium, † September 9, 1834 in London) was a British sailors and sealers.

Biography

Early years

James Weddell was the son of a Scottish upholsterer, who came from Dalserf and lived in London with his wife Sarah Peace. These belonged to a well known and respected Quaker family. His father died shortly after his birth and his older brother Charles Weddell joined the Royal Navy to the family livelihood secure. James Weddell accompanied him on the Swan at the age of nine years, for six months, Charles settled probably on the West Indies, where he died in 1818. James made a business apprenticeship and went around 1805 on a merchant ship, which to the West Indies went on arguing on this, however, with the captain and was passed in the episode as a prisoner to the frigate Rainbow, accused of treason and mutiny. This brought him to Jamaica.

In Jamaica, he joined the Royal Navy in 1810 and used on the Firefly. In December 1811 he moved to the Thalia, with which he returned to Britain and was paid. On 21 October 1812, he was made ​​to the Hope, where he was also, as the ship took in 1813 captured the American privateer " True Blooded Yankee ". A few months later Weddell moved to the brig Avon, where he remained until 1814. He then drove on the Espoir on trading voyages to the West Indies and Nova Scotia and worked later on the frigates Cyndus and Pactolus. After the Napoleonic Wars, he devoted himself more other trading voyages to the West Indies.

First trip in the Antarctic region

In 1819, James Weddell learned Strachan, a ship's carpenter from Leith, and James Mitchell, a London broker, know that the brig Jane had together. At this time the first news came from the discovery of the South Shetland Islands. Weddell convinced Strachan that it could in the Southern Ocean give great profit opportunities if you scout the new seal fishing grounds, he also wanted to even find the mysterious Aurora Islands, which should be located east of Cape Horn and of those in 1762 by the Spanish ship Aurora and 1794 was reported by the Atrevida.

Weddell traveled only on the Falkland Islands, where he spent the winter 1819-1820 and the marine areas explored the islands. In January 1820, he returned to Britain with letters from seal hunters, including one from George from Liverpool who had captured over 9,000 seals.

Second trip in the Antarctic region

By Weddells first trip to the Southern Ocean is a large profit for shipowners Strachan and Mitchell recorded from. They bought another ship, the Beaufoy, and together with the Scottish captain Michael McLeod left the two ships in September 1821 the Port of London for a second trip to the Falkland Islands with stops in Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. Here they met the commander of the Charity Charles H. Barnard, who accompanied them on another journey.

1821 the three ships reached the South Shetland Islands. Due to the presence of a total of 45 British and American seal hunting ships, the seal population in this region, however, have been scarce, and the three ships parted in search of new fishing grounds. On December 11, 1821 MacLeod sighted 240 miles south of the Elephant Iceland the South Orkneys, the first four days earlier by George Powell ( 1794-1823 ) had been discovered on the ship by Nathaniel Palmer. The ships met on December 22, 1821 in the harbor of Greenwich Iceland and Weddell drove then to the islands described by MacLeod on seal hunting. With a stopover on South Georgia, both ships were traveling back to London, where they arrived in July 1822.

Third trip to the Antarctic region

After the ships had arrived in London, they were equipped for several months for a new trip to the Antarctic region. Weddell got the order to make even further explorations of the Antarctic waters next to the seal hunt. To this end, the ships with important equipment such as chronometers, compasses, barometers, as well as additional card and writing materials were provided. While Weddell again took over command of the Jane Beaufort was passed into the hands of the Scots Matthew Brisbane. The two ships left London on 13 September 1822. Too on this trip Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands were first driven, also had the Jane due to a leak invest in the coast of Patagonia and repaired. They arrived on 12 January 1823 South Orkney Islands. The seal hunt on the islands was disappointing and Weddell decided to continue sailing south, after he had previously crossed the waters between the South Orkney and South Shetland Islands in search of additional land.

With the excess of 71 ° 10 ' S, the two ships reached the southernmost point that until then had ever achieved a ship. On February 10, 1823 had penetrated ° 34 ' S to 74 and sighted the first iceberg, but had discovered no other country. Weddell decided to repent, because he assumed that extends only the sea to the South Pole, although separated him only two more days of the discovery Coats country and thus the Antarctic coast. It was not until 1911 came with Wilhelm Filchner someone again so far in this region.

Weddell returned to the South Orkney Islands and then to South Georgia to get back to hunt seals. They wintered in the Falkland Islands and then drove to the other hunting in the region around Cape Horn, after they could not reach the South Shetland Islands due to the surrounding pack ice. At the beginning of 1824, the two ships parted and while the Beaufort was in Tierra del Fuego, Weddell explored the Patagonian coast. The Beaufort reached London on 20 June 1824, the Jane followed on 9 July of the same year.

As Weddell reported from his trip and his foray into the Southern Ocean, it was not this only believed he could, however, prove through maps. Strachan and Mitchell persuaded him to publish his travel experience in a book, which first appeared in 1825. Brisbane left London 1824 with the Beaufort again for a trip along the coast of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and returned over the Falkland Islands back, this trip took Weddell on to its second edition in 1827.

Later life

1826 Weddell offered to the British Admiralty to repeat his trip to the Southern Ocean if they would take over the costs. The Admiralty rejected this offer, however. Instead Weddell went again on trade missions in the warmer Atlantic waters, where he continues to Jane used. 1829 licked the ship during a trip from Buenos Aires to Gibraltar, so he had to drop anchor in the Azores and the ship was decommissioned. Weddell and his team should be placed with another ship to the UK, however, which crashed on the island of Pico, Weddell only able to save himself by clinging to a rock.

The loss of Jane meant financial ruin for Weddell, who subsequently settled again hire as a ship's captain. He left London in 1830 on the Eliza, who went to Tasmania to Western Australia to the Swan River Colony and then to Hobart. In 1832 he returned to Britain, where he died in 1834 and was buried in the cemetery of St. Clement Danes.

Honors

James Weddell is the namesake of the Weddell Sea in the Southern Ocean and the Weddell Seal.

Works

• James Weddell: A voyage towards the South Pole Performed in the years 1822-24. Containing on examination of the Antarctic Sea, to the seventy -fourth degree of latitude; and a visit to Tierra del Fuego, with a Particular account of the Inhabitants. To Which is added, much useful information on the coasting navigation of Cape Horn, and the Adjacent lands, London, 1825; 2nd expanded edition, London, 1827 (Reprint: David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1971)