biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1786–1847)
|
| biography:
| Arctic explorer, born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, EC England, UK. He joined the navy at 14, and was present at the Battles of Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805). Knighted in 1829, he became Governor of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) (1834–45). He then commanded an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage, but his ships were beleaguered by thick ice in the Victoria Strait, and he and his crew died. Their remains, and a record of the expedition, were found several years later. He is credited with the discovery of the Passage, because his ships came within a few miles of known American waters. |
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