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The last voyage of HMS Investigator, 1850–53, and the discovery of the North West Passage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Extract

[The list of officers and crew of HMS Investigator, 1850–53, contains the name “James Nelson, AB”. Recently J. W. Nelson, a descendant of Nelson's, brought to the Institute two copy-books containing accounts by him of the last voyage of Investigator, the discovery of the North West Passage and the return of the surviving members of the ship's company to England after the abandonment of the ship in the Bay of Mercy, Banks Island, in June 1853. Both accounts were obviously written carefully after the author's return, presumably from diary notes. The handwriting is neat copperplate with alterations in another hand. Little is known of the origins or later history of James Nelson, whose command of contemporary literary style and facility of expression must have been unusual in an AB of the period. His naval Certificate of Service is as follows:

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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References

page 758 note * Mierching

page 760 note * Snow Bunting or Arctic Robin

page 764 note * Later renamed Banks Island (Ed.)

page 766 note * Later renamed Prince Albert Peninsula (Ed.)

page 768 note * Later renamed Viscount Melville Sound (Ed.)