HMS Terror and Erebus

16/02/2024

Free on Tuesday afternoon? Join for Voyages of Discovery and Magnetism in the Age of Empire - a free online talk, hosted by the National Maritime Museum, from 5.15-6.30. Lots on the Royal Navy, exploration, science, and Cornish dipping needles! What more could anyone possibly want?!

Join us for a free talk on the hunt for magnetic north and south in the mid-1800s

17/02/2023

Fine mid-week weekend visit to the Merchant Taylors' Hall, seat of the Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors since 1347 - 1 of 12 of the Great Livery Companies of the City of London. Largely rebuilt after fire of 1666 and bombing in WW2.

22/02/2022

Delighted to see my partner in historical crime and all things dipping-needle related, Michael Carver, brandishing the instrument and its award! Fantastic news and well done to the Roly Cornwall Polytechnic!

The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (The Poly) is celebrating winning ‘Object of the Year’ at the 2022 Cornwall Heritage Awards.

10/02/2022

Fantastic news! The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society’s Fox-type dipping needle, the mainstay of magnetic research of which Franklin’s 1845 expedition was a crucial part, has won “object of the year” for 2022 in the Cornish Heritage Awards. Congrats to the Poly, and thanks to all who voted! Great stuff for Falmouth and the celebration of it’s rich history

Falmouth UniversityFalmouth History Archive Falmouth Cornwall UK

06/12/2021

Very excited to learn that the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic's magnetic dipping needle, similar to that employed by James Ross on HMS "Erebus" between 1839 and 1843, has been nominated for Cornwall Heritage Object of the Year. There's some pretty epic rivals for this award included on the list, but if you've got 30 seconds to spare, please vote for the dipping needle! The Poly is quite small and it would be terrific if such a tiny institution got such an exciting award!

Cornwall Museums Partnership is a charity that exists to help people learn about and be inspired by Cornwall's museum collections.

11/10/2021

Very excited to have these little booklets printed for Wednesday - when we will be performing experiments with the dipping needle in Falmouth. If you’re about - do drop be in the afternoon, or if you fancy a booklet, they are on sale for £1 (which goes to the local Polytechnic Society) - or let me know and I can post one.

Artwork and poems all by local Cornish artists!

And tomorrow, from 6.30pm, tune in to BBC Radio Cornwall for a chat on Cornwall and nineteenth-century Science!

08/10/2021

Magnetic experiments at the Equator, from last year. Next Wednesday, the dipping needle will be back in Falmouth and on display in the town for a day of experiments! To hear more about this, tune in to BBC radio Cornwall from 6.30 on Tuesday

27/09/2021

Very excited to have this confirmed for 13 October! A celebration of Cornish history of science, down at Falmouth. The unveiling of a plaque for Robert Fox, some experimental demonstrations with his dipping needle, a lecture, and a cream tea! Sadly this is ticketed and places are limited, but if anyone is around and desperately keen to come along, PM me! Always looking for experimental assistants…


BBC Falmouth History ArchiveFalmouth Cornwall UKFalmouth University

22/06/2021

“Cream tea and magnetism at the Antarctic” - through the medium of biscuit…

Was “challenged” to bake a biscuit selfie of myself, in a significant location - so adapted Captain JC Ross at the North Pole (1834) to … Captain Gillahan at the South - complete with a Fox type dipping needle, rather than his London-made device. Nb: added HMS Terror and Erebus in the background amid the glaciers - Ice made from blue caramel.

The biscuit is Devon flat - obviously. Made with local clotted cream. And a layer of jam in between - made with strawberries and Sharpham sparkling wine. But the dipping needle, being cornish, is cornish ginger fairing.

07/04/2021

If you've liked , and around Cornwall over the summer - keep an eye out for the return of the Fox dipping needle, of the sort Crozier used throughout his voyages. Here she is, the beautiful instrument, off St Helena and at Cape Town, last year, which Crozier and Ross magnetically measured in 1839 and 1840 aboard Terror and Erebus

31/03/2021

Whatever happens to Crozier tonight on , remember that at the end of the world there’s a street named after him that has the best pub on the Falklands! He’d have wanted it this way...

24/03/2021

Down on the Falklands at Port Stanley - the local maritime museum has this gem! A wooden headstone to the island's first governor, murdered in 1833, erected by the crews of Terror and Erebus in 1842, while under the command of JC Ross. Staggeringly beautiful islands!
And this Tidal Plaque from 1842 is mighty fine!

Was last here in 2019, but very much hope to return one day, with the Fox dipping needle!