biography
pronunciation:
[ray]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1813–93)
|
| biography:
| Arctic traveller, born near Stromness, Orkney Is, NE Scotland, UK. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and in 1833 became doctor to the Hudson Bay Co. In 1846–7 he made two exploring expeditions to the Canadian Arctic, and in 1848 he accompanied Sir John Richardson on a search voyage for Franklin's lost expedition. On a further journey which he commanded (1853–4), he met the Eskimos who gave definite news of Franklin's expedition and its probable fate. Known for his physical strength, he walked more than 23 000 mi on his travels. In 1860 he surveyed a telegraph line to America from England, and in 1864 made a telegraph survey from Winnipeg over the Rocky Mts. |
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