MACLURE, Si r ROBERT Joirx LE MESITRIER, the discoverer of th e north-west passage, was b. at Wexford in Jan., 1807. and was sent for his education first to Eton, and aft-er wards to Sandhurst. Intended for the military profession, but having no great love for it, he secretly left Sandhurst, and through the good offices of a friend, was entered as a midshipman on board the Vi'etory. Ire volunteered for the Arctic expedition in H.M.S.
7'error, capt. Back, in 1836, returning to England in 1837. In Nov., 1837, he received commission as a lieut.; and on June 18, 1842, was appointed to the command of the I?omney receiving-ship at the Havana, where he remained until the early part of 1846. Iu 1848 he joined sir James Ross's expedition in search of Franklin; and upon its return in 1849 he was promoted to the rank of commander. This expedition had barely returned to England when it was resolved by the admiralty to dispatch the vessels com .posing it—viz., the Enterprise and the a fresh search for the Franklin garty by way of Behring's strait. Accordingly, capt. Richard Collinson. c.B., was appointed as senior officer to the Ente9prise, and commander Maclure to the Investigator. On Jan. 20, 1850, the vessels set sail, with instructions to make the best of their way to cape Virgins, in order to arrive at Behring's strait in July. The Investigator could not keep up with the Enterprise, which was towed through the strait of Magellan by a -steamer some time before the Investigator got there. After rounding cape Horn, the _Investigator met with her consort lying at anchor in Fortescue bay; but soon again they -separated, and met no more during the voyage. Capt. Maclure now proceeded alone, in the Investigator, towards the ice-regions. On Aug.. 2, after passing through Behring's strait, he spied, in lat. 72° n., ice right ahead. On the 8th his men first met with Esqui maux, close to point Pitt, where a party was sent ashore to erect a cairn, and place a notice ofthe Investigator having passed. These Esquimaux encouraged them in the belief that, as they proceeded eastward, they would lind an open channel. As they pro ceeded, however, along the coast of America, the ice became troublesome and even threatening. There were also numerous shoals, which made the navigation intricate and .dangerous. On Aug. 31 the Investigator reached cape Bathurst, from which she con ,tinued to advance for several days in a north-easterly direction. On Sept. 11 unmis ,takable signs of winter presented themselves. On the 17th the Investzgator reached her .most advanced position in lat. 73° 10' n. and long. 117° 10' w., about 30 m. from the -waters of that series of straits called Melville, Barrow, and Lancaster, communicating -with Baffin's bay. The ice now almost hemmed the vessel in on every side; and capt. Maclure determined to winter in his present position. The _Investigator became finally ifixed iu the ice in lat. 72° 50' n., atx1 long. 117° 55' west. On Oct. 22, capt. Maclure ,determined to reach the sea, if possible, by a sledgy-journey. He accordingly set out with a party of men and officers; and, after sustaining much fatigue and privation, was at last rewarded on the 26th by a sight of the north-west passage. "The position of mount Observation, from which the important discovery had been made, was ascertained :to be in lat. (observed) 73° 30' 39'' n., long. 114° 39' Iv., and by lunar 114° 14' west." After this discovery the party returned to the Investigator; but that vessel was not des tined herself to sail homewards through the passage discovered by her commander. All Alia winter and spring she remained frozen up in the ice. In July she began to move again, but the nearest she could get to the passage was 73° 43' 43" n. lat., and long. 115° 32' 30", 25 m. from the waters of Barrow strait. This was on Aug. 15, 1851. On the dollowing day commander Maclure resolved to abandon this course, go round the s. end cf Banks's land, and endeavor, by passing to the westward of it, to reach Melville island by that route. For 300 m. and more, the Investigator sailed in this direction without being once checked by ice. On Au.,. 19, however, a sudden change came; the ice pressed against both sides of the vessel, and immense masses threatened to topple over and sink her with their weight. By Sept. 1 the Investigator became completely ice-bound about .50 yards from the shore. On the 10th, however, there was another change; the ice broke from the coast, carrying the Investigator with it, and she slowly sailed along for :several days, until eventually she settled in a bay, where commander Maclure resolved to winter. To this bay he gave the name of bay of -Mercy, in gratitude for the escape
.of the ship and crew from numerous dangers, as also because the neighboring laud abounded iu reindeer, hares, and other animals, which gave them good supply of food. In this bay they passed their second Christmas, and the time wore on until April, 1852, 'when commander Maelure visited Melville island with a sledge-party, in the hope of findin, some of capt. Austin's ships, or at least a depot of provisions, but was disap pointe71. He returned to the vessel, where all was still well; but in May the scurvy broke out among his crew, and increased during the summer. Aug. came and still there was no open channel, and in the following month it became clear that they must pass fr third winter in the ice. It now became necessary to decide what they should do for the future, as provisions were failing; and, accordingly, commander Maclure announced to his men that, in the following April, he would send away 30 of the crew to make their way homewards in two parties—one by way of North America up the Mackenzie river; the other by. way of cape Spencer, Beechey island; while he himself, with the remainder of the officers and crew, would stay by the ship, spend a fourth winter, and then, if not relieved, endeavor to retreat upon Lancaster sound. The men cheerfully acquiesced; aud when April came the sledges were got ready for the retreat- , ing parties. On the 6th of that month commander Maclure and his first lieut. were walking near the ship conversing, when they perceived a figure rapidly approaching nein from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. When within a hundred yards of them he shouted and gesticulated, but without enabling them to guess who it could be. At length lie came up to them, and, to their joy and astonishment, announced himself thus: am lieut. Pim, late of the Herald, and now in the Resolute. Capt. Kellett is in her at Dealy island." Pim had come from Melville island, in consequence of one of capt. Kellett's parties having discovered an inscription left by commander 3faclure on Parry's famous sandstone rock in Winter harbor. Commander.Maclure now resolved, although reluctantly, to abandon his ship altogether and return midi eapt. Kellett to England. He reached England Sept. 28, 1854. His first reward was to receive his commission of post-capt., dated back to the day of his discovery of the north-west pas sage. Shortly afterwards he received from her majesty the honor of knighthood. A reward of was also granted to the officers and crew of the Investigator, as a token of national approbation of the men who had discovered a north-west passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean. In Mar., 1856, sir Robert Machire was appointed to the command of II.M. steam-corvette Esk, serving in the East Indies and China, but which returned to England in 1861. He died Oct. 17, 1873.
MACLURE',LmAxr, 1763-1840; b. Scotland; came to this country in 1782, but returned to London, and engaged in mercantile business, from which he retired with a fortune. He made the United States his home after 1796, and wdnt abroad in 1803 as a U. S. commissioner to settle the French spoliation claims. During this visit to the con tinent he pursued a course of geological study, making large collections of specimens. He had already determined to make a general geological survey of the United States, and on his return traveled extensively in furtherance of that object. The first account of his researches, is found in his Observations on the Ge,ology of the United States, which he read before the American philosophical society in 1809. He published a second paper in 1817, with a geological map of the United States. About this date he settled in Philadelphia, and was elected president of its academy of natural scienceS, an office which he retained till his death. In the Journal, which he had founded as the organ of the academy, he published a description of the geology of the Antilles, which he visited in 1816. Three years later he went to Spain, where he bought a large tract of land from. the government, then in the hands of the revolutionists, and endeavored to found a sort of agricultural school; but on the downfall of the provisional government the title to his land failed, and the experiment was abandoned. He afterwards entered upon a scheme of the same kind at New Harmony, Ind., which also was unsuccessful. In 1827 and again in 1828, he went to 3Iexico, and there lie died. His library and most of his col lection of maps and charts, with the sum of $20,000 to erect a building for their recep tion, were bequeathed to the Philadelphia academy of natural sciences; and many of his specimens were given to the American geological society of New Haven, Conn.