Sir James Clark Ross (April 15, 1800 - April 3, 1862) was a British explorer and naval officer who went on missions to both the Arctic and the continent of Antarctica, doing magnetic surveys.
The Arctic
Ross went on Arctic expeditions with Sir William E. Parry from 1819 to 1827. Ross and his uncle, Sir John Ross, located the North Magnetic Pole, on Boothia Peninsula (in northern Canada, north of King William Island) on May 31 - June 1, 1831.
Antarctica
James Ross led an Antarctic expedition (1839-43), commanding the “Erebus” while his friend Francis Crozier commanded the “Terror.” [These two ships were lost years later when Franklin’s Arctic expedition failed.] Ross charted much of the coastline and in 1841 discovered the Ross Sea, the Victoria Land area of Antarctica, Mount Erebus (a 12,400-foot tall volcano on Antarctica), and Mount Terror (a smaller, nearby, extinct volcano). Ross also discovered the Victoria Barrier, which was later renamed the Ross Ice Shelf. Ross wrote his memoirs, “A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions” (1847).