Belcher, Edward

Born 1799; died Mar. 18, 1877, in London. British navigator and polar explorer.

From 1836 to 1842, Belcher completed a trip around the world on the hydrographic ships Sulphur and Samarang; during the period 1843–47 he surveyed the coast of Southeast Asia. In 1852–54 he led the Arctic expedition which was sent to search for J. Franklin. In the course of the two-year wintering period a considerable portion of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago was charted. Groups of islands along the western coast of the Labrador Peninsula as well as a strait to the south of the Island of Cornwall were named after Belcher.