British explorer Sir John Ross (1777-1856) joined the Royal Navy at the age of nine and spent much of the rest of his life at sea. In the early nineteenth century, he made three expeditions to the Arctic, looking for the Northwest Passage, exploring King William Island and the Boothia Peninsula, and searching for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin.

Ross was the fifth son of Andrew Ross and his wife, Elizabeth. He was born in Balsarroch, Wigtonshire in Scotland on June 24, 1777. While still a boy, he joined the crew of a ship called the Pearl and spent the next three years in the Mediterranean. In 1790 he sailed on the Impregnable, whose captain, Sir Thomas Byard, advised him to join the merchant marine. He did so and became an apprentice to Byard for four years, sailing to the West Indies and the Baltic. After that he sailed...