Magnetic : Erebus and Terror and The Last Great Voyage of the Age of Sail

The compelling story of the James Clark Ross expedition to the Antarctic

The compelling story of the James Clark Ross expedition to the AntarcticIn 1839 James Clark Ross set out to unravel the mysteries of the Earth’s magnetic field and disclose the secrets of the Antarctic. In command of two former warships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, he traversed the south polar regions for four years. By the expedition’s end, he and his crews had seen for the first time some of the most astounding sights this world has to offer. Stewart Weaver traces the story of the last long voyage of discovery under sail. He shows how Ross and other nineteenth century thinkers strove to understand why compass needles pointed north, why the magnetic poles were constantly moving and what lay at the southernmost latitudes of the earth. Weaver shows how efforts to answer longstanding scientific questions led to an unexpected encounter with a whole new continent: Antarctica. This is the fascinating story of explorer-scientists striving to make their mark at the end of the Age of Sail, at the very moment of transition between the old world and the new.