Thomas Abernethy (explorer)
Thomas Abernethy was a Scottish seafarer, gunner in the Royal Navy, and polar explorer. Because he was neither an officer nor a gentleman, he was little mentioned in the books written by the leaders of the expeditions he went on, but was praised in what was written. In 1857, he was awarded the Arctic Medal for his service as an able seaman on the 1824–25 voyage of HMS Hecla, the first of his five expeditions for which participants were eligible for the award. He was in parties that, for their time, reached the furthest north, the furthest south (twice), and the nearest to the South Magnetic Pole. In 1831, along with James Clark Ross's team of six, Abernethy was in the first party ever to reach the North Magnetic Pole.
Illustration from 1835 depicting Abernethy's party at the North Magnetic Pole
Parry's North Pole expedition
Victory under sail for the last time, 1832
Somerset House in the summer
Sir James Clark Ross was a British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer known for his explorations of the Arctic, participating in two expeditions led by his uncle John Ross, and four led by William Edward Parry, and, in particular, for his own Antarctic expedition from 1839 to 1843.
1834 painting of James Clark Ross
Illustration of the discovery of the North Magnetic Pole on the Boothia Peninsula in 1831, from Robert Huish's 1835 book.
Ross expedition in the Antarctic, 1847, by John Carmichael
"E.I. 1849": Enterprise and Investigator, inscribed by a crew member of the Ross expedition on Somerset Island in Nunavut, Canada