Description

The intrepid French explorer Joseph René Bellot (1826-53) became a symbol of Anglo-French friendship in 1851, when he took part in the second expedition of the Prince Albert in search of Sir John Franklin. During the seventeen-month expedition, Bellot wrote a journal which captures his enthusiasm for the discovery of unknown lands and the anxieties of a perilous journey. Together with Captain William Kennedy, Bellot found the northernmost point of the American continent and was named a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His journal was published posthumously, together with a short account of his life, in 1854 by Julien Lemer, and reissued several times because of its scientific and literary interest. Bellot died tragically, aged twenty-seven, during his second polar expedition. His courage and devotion to a foreign cause earned him much admiration in Britain: an obelisk was raised in his honour outside the Greenwich Hospital for sailors.