View source for George Nares

{{Short description|British Royal Navy officer and polar explorer (1831–1915)}}
{{for|the English barrister, judge, and politician|George Nares (judge)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
 |honorific_prefix = [[Vice-admiral (Royal Navy)|Vice-Admiral]]
 |name          = Sir George Nares
 |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|FRS}}
 |image         = George Strong Nares. Photograph. Wellcome V0026912.jpg
 |birth_name    = George Strong Nares
 |birth_date    = {{birth date|1831|04|24|df=y}}
 |birth_place   = [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Llansenseld]], UK
 |death_date    = {{death date and age|1915|01|15|1831|04|24|df=y}}
 |death_place   = {{nowrap|[[Kingston upon Thames]], UK}}
 |allegiance    = {{flagu|United Kingdom}}
 |branch_label  = Branch
 |branch        = {{navy|UK}}
 |serviceyears_label = Service&nbsp;years
 |serviceyears  = 1845–1886
 |rank          = Vice-Admiral
 |unit_label    = Served&nbsp;on
 |unit          = {{ubl|{{HMS|Canopus|1798|6}}|{{HMS|Havannah|1811|6}}|{{HMS|Resolute|1850|6}}|{{HMS|Conqueror|1855|6}}|{{HMS|Illustrious|1803|6}}|{{HMS|Britannia|1820|6}} }}
 |commands      = {{ubl||{{HMS|Boscawen|1844|6}}|{{HMS|Salamander|1832|6}}|{{HMS|Newport|1867|6}}|{{HMS|Shearwater|1861|6}}|{{HMS|Challenger|1858|6}}|{{HMS|Alert|1856|6}} }}
 |battles_label = Expeditions
 |battles       = {{ubl|[[Challenger Expedition|''Challenger'' Expedition]]|[[British Arctic Expedition]]}}
 |awards        = {{ubl|[[Order of the Bath]]|[[Founder's Medal]]|[[Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations|''Grande Médaille d'Or'']]}}
}}

Vice-Admiral '''Sir George Strong Nares''' {{postnom|country=UK|size=100%|KCB|FRS}} (24 April 1831&nbsp;– 15 January 1915) was a [[Royal Navy]] officer and [[Arctic]] explorer. He commanded the [[Challenger Expedition|''Challenger'' Expedition]], and the [[British Arctic Expedition]]. He was highly thought of as a leader and scientific explorer. In later life he worked for the Board of Trade and as [[Acting Conservator of the River Mersey]].

== Biography ==

=== Family ===
He was born on 24 April 1831, the third son and sixth child of Commander William Henry Nares, a British naval officer, and Elizabeth Rebecca Gould, at Llansenseld, near [[Abergavenny]] in [[Monmouthshire (historic)|Monmouthshire]]. He was baptised at the church of St Bridget, Llansanffraid on 22 May.<ref name="DNB">{{cite ODNB |last1=Rudmose-Brown |first1=R. N. |last2=Deacon |first2=M. |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35185?docPos=2 |title=Nares, Sir George Strong (bap. 1831, d. 1915) |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35185 |access-date=22 January 2011}}</ref> He married Mary Grant, the eldest daughter of a Portsmouth banker, on 22 June 1858. They had four sons and six daughters.<ref name="DNB" /> His two youngest sons, George Edward Nares and John Dodd Nares entered the Royal Navy.

=== Education and early naval career ===
He was educated at the [[Royal Naval School]] in [[New Cross]] in south London, and in 1845 joined the Royal Navy aboard [[HMS Canopus (1798)|HMS ''Canopus'']], an old battleship captured from the French.<ref name="Nature94">{{cite journal |title=Vice-Admiral Sir George Nares, K.C.B., F.R.S. |journal=Nature |volume=94 |issue=2360 |pages=565–567 |date=January 1915 |doi=10.1038/094565b0 |bibcode=1915Natur..94..565. |df=dmy-all |doi-access=free }}</ref> Following a posting to [[HMS Havannah (1811)|HMS ''Havannah'']] on the Australian station in 1848, during which he served as both midshipman and mate, he returned in 1851 and passed his lieutenant's exam in 1852.<ref name="DNB" />

=== First Arctic experience ===
While returning to England in ''Havannah'' in 1851, Nares had met Commander [[George Henry Richards]], a future Hydrographer of the Navy, who had suggested he apply to Sir [[Edward Belcher]] for a place on his search for Sir [[John Franklin]]. Nares was accepted as the second mate of {{HMS|Resolute|1850|2}}, and thus gained valuable early experience of the Arctic during the 1852–1854 expedition.<ref name="DNB" />

=== Gunnery specialist ===
In 1854 Nares received his promotion to lieutenant and specialised as a gunnery officer. He joined the new battleship {{HMS|Conqueror|1855|2}} in 1854, including service in the Mediterranean during the Crimean War.<ref name="DNB" /> During this time he was loaned to the {{Sclass|Aetna|ironclad floating battery|2}} {{HMS|Glatton|1855|2}} under the command of Captain [[Arthur Cumming (Royal Navy officer)|Arthur Cumming]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Nares, Sir George Strong}}</ref> ''Glatton'' arrived in the Black Sea too late to see action.

=== Instructor and author ===
He served as a lieutenant in charge of training cadets in {{HMS|Illustrious|1803|2}}, and from 1859, in her successor, {{HMS|Britannia|1820|2}}. During this time he wrote the best-selling book ''The Naval Cadet's Guide'', which was also republished under the title ''Seamanship'', and was regarded as the best manual of its day.<ref name="DNB" /> He was promoted to commander in 1862 and took command of the training ship {{HMS|Boscawen|1844|2}} in September 1863.

=== Surveyor ===
[[File:Admiralty Chart No 757 Gulf of Suez, Published 1873.jpg|thumb|Admiralty Chart of the Gulf of Suez, Surveyed by Nares in HMS ''Newport'' and ''Shearwater'']]
His next ship was the aging 4-gun wooden paddle sloop {{HMS|Salamander|1832|2}}, which he commanded from 1865. Although he had served in the steam-assisted ''Conqueror'' over ten years previously, this was his first paddle steamer, and in a further departure, she was employed in surveying duties on the east coast of Australia.<ref name="DNB" /> His duties involved keeping the communications between Sydney and [[Cape York Peninsula]] in the furthest north point of Queensland open. On the long journeys between he conducted surveys of the [[Great Barrier Reef]].<ref name=obit>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/1779806 Obituary of Sir George Nares at JSTOR]</ref>

His next appointment was to the brand new {{Sclass|Philomel|gunvessel}} {{HMS|Newport|1867|2}},{{efn|The journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' (21 January 1915) tells that when ''Newport'' was at Malta in 1869 the chief engineer, who was anxious not to go to sea because he wanted to attend some function on shore with his wife, asked to be given forty-eight hours to take off the cylinder covers. Captain Nares replied "By all means." The chief engineer was jubilant, but on the planned day of sailing, after the usual morning muster by division, the order was given "Hands make sail", and the ship sailed out of the harbour without the aid of the engines, much to the chagrin of the engineer staff. ''Nature'' reports this as an example of his competence under sail and that it "was a good lesson given with tact and judgement".<ref name="Nature94" />}} which he commissioned and took to the Mediterranean for survey work, including a survey of the [[Gulf of Suez]], accessed by the newly opened [[Suez Canal]]. The Suez Canal opened in November 1869. On the morning of 17 November, a procession of ships entered the canal, officially headed by the French Imperial yacht ''Aigle'' however ''Newport'' passed through it first. On the night before the canal was due to open, Nares navigated his vessel, in total darkness and without lights, through the mass of waiting ships until it was in front of ''L'Aigle''. When dawn broke the French were horrified to find that the [[Royal Navy]] was now first in line and that it would be impossible to pass them. Captain Nares received both an official reprimand and an unofficial vote of thanks from the Admiralty for his actions in promoting British interests and for demonstrating such superb seamanship.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1915 |title=Obituary: Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares, K. C. B., F. R. S. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1779806 |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=255–257 |issn=0016-7398}}</ref>

Among the ships following was the ''Newport'' captained by Nares, which would survey the canal a few months later. The [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] required a survey and report before it would allow the canal to be used by naval vessels. [[George Henry Richards|G.H. Richards]], [[Hydrographer of the Navy]] joined ''Newport'' in January 1870. They traversed the canal in both directions, taking soundings and checking the navigation. They approved the canal, subject to completion of improvements that were already under way.<ref name="Ritchie">{{cite book |last1=Ritchie |first1=G.S. |title=The Admiralty Chart |date=1967 |publisher=Hollis & Carter |location=London |pages=317–319}}</ref>

In recognition of his work in the Gulf of Suez, Nares was promoted to the rank of captain in 1869. He commissioned {{HMS|Shearwater|1861|2}} in 1871 for the Red Sea, and on the outward voyage the ship conducted studies of the water currents in the [[Straits of Gibraltar]] for [[William Benjamin Carpenter]], a biologist who believed that density differences between water masses generated ocean currents.

=== ''Challenger'' expedition ===
{{main|Challenger Expedition}}
[[File:Challenger.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[HMS Challenger (1858)|HMS ''Challenger'']]]]
[[Charles Wyville Thomson]] and the [[Royal Society of London]] obtained the corvette {{HMS|Challenger|1858|2}} from the Royal Navy for a 3-year expedition of scientific discovery. Although much of the world was well charted, this extended only to the coastlines and to very shallow depths – largely depths significant to the safe navigation of ships. There was a widely held consensus that the oceans were in parts very deep, but almost nothing was known of the make up of the deep oceans, the submarine landscape, nor the life contained within the deep ocean. ''Challenger'' was equipped to measure much of this, being loaded with specimen jars, chemical apparatus, trawls and dredges, thermometers and water sampling bottles, sounding leads and devices to collect sediment from the sea bed. Great lengths of rope were provided to allow the sounding of deep oceans, and of Italian hemp alone she carried a total length of {{convert|181|mi|km}}.

Nares was given command of the [[Challenger Expedition|''Challenger'' Expedition]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aitken |first1=Frédéric |last2=Foulc |first2=Jean-Numa |title=The First Explorations of the Deep Sea by H.M.S. Challenger (1872–1876) |series=From Deep Sea to Laboratory |volume=1 |date=2019 |publisher=ISTE |location=London |isbn=978-1-78630-374-5 |doi=10.1002/9781119610953 |at=Chapter 2}}</ref> a recognition of his experience in this field, but also of his scientific approach to surveying and exploration. His work with William Carpenter in ''Shearwater'' had been a key factor in the choice of commanding officer. His officers were all naval surveyors, and the team of civilian scientists, led by Charles Wyville Thomson.<ref name="DNB" />

''Challenger'' spent a year in the Atlantic and after turning east in early 1874 she turned south in the Indian Ocean, visiting the [[Prince Edward Islands|Prince Edward]], [[Kerguelen Islands|Kerguelen]], and [[Heard Islands]]. She reached as far south as {{nowrap|66° 40′S}} before reaching the ice pack. In the process she became the first steam vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle.<ref name="DNB" />

Not all similar expeditions had been so successful, and in particular the easy relations between the scientific gentlemen and the naval officers was a testament to the sure leadership of George Nares. It was therefore a measure of his success as the commander of a scientific expedition that he was recalled in November 1874 to lead a similar but more arduous expedition at the opposite end of the earth.<ref name="DNB" />

=== British Arctic Expedition ===
{{main|British Arctic Expedition}}
Because of his previous experience in the Arctic, he was summoned from this assignment to take charge of another Arctic voyage in search of the [[North Pole]] in {{HMS|Discovery|1874|2}} and {{HMS|Alert|1856|2}} in 1875, the [[British Arctic Expedition]]. On this expedition, Nares became the first explorer to take his ships all the way north through the channel between [[Greenland]] and [[Ellesmere Island]] – now named [[Nares Strait]] in his honour – to the [[Lincoln Sea]]. Up to this time, it had been a popular theory that this route would lead to the supposed [[Open Polar Sea]], an ice-free region surrounding the pole, but Nares found only a wasteland of ice. A sledging party under [[Albert Hastings Markham]] set a new record farthest north of 83° 20' 26"N,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/USQUE_Alert |title=HMS ''Alert'' at the Canadian Coastguard website |access-date=16 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928085229/http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/eng/CCG/USQUE_Alert |archive-date=28 September 2009}}</ref> but overall the expedition was a near-disaster. The men suffered badly from [[scurvy]] and were hampered by inappropriate clothing and equipment. Realising that his men could not survive another winter in the ice, Nares hastily retreated southward with both his ships in the summer of 1876. Nares wrote an account of the expedition, ''Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea during 1875–6 by H.M. Ships "Alert" and "Discovery"'' and published by Sampson, Low, Searle & Rivington of London.<ref name="DNB" />

Nares was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1876, received the [[Founder's Medal]] of the Royal Geographical Society in 1877 and was awarded the Gold medal from the ''[[Société de Géographie]]'' in 1879. These scientific awards were matched by an appointment as a Knight Commander of the [[Order of the Bath]] in 1876.<ref name="DNB" />

=== Later life ===
In 1878 he was appointed in command of ''Alert'', his ship from the Arctic expedition, in which he surveyed the [[Strait of Magellan]]. He left the ship on 11 March 1879, and from 1879 to 1896 was employed in the harbour department of the Board of Trade. During this period he retired from the Royal Navy, on 24 April 1886. He was promoted on the retired list twice, firstly in 1887 to rear-admiral, and secondly in 1892 to vice-admiral.<ref name="DNB" />

After leaving the Board of Trade in 1896 he became a conservator of the River Mersey, a post which he held until 1910.<ref name="DNB" /> He was a member of the ship committee for [[Robert Falcon Scott]]'s 1912 [[Terra Nova Expedition|''Terra Nova'' Expedition]]. His wife Mary died in 1905.

Nares died at home aged 83 at [[Kingston upon Thames]] on 15 January 1915, and was buried in [[Long Ditton]] churchyard in [[Surrey]].<ref name="DNB" />

== Legacy ==
Among others, the following features are named after Nares:
* [[Nares Land]] in Greenland
* [[Nares Strait]] between Ellesmere Island and Greenland
* [[Mount Nares]], part of the Churchill Mountains in Antarctica
* [[Nares Lake]] in southern [[Yukon]] between [[Bennett Lake]] and [[Tagish Lake]]
* Nares Deep, the deepest part of the North Atlantic
* Nares Cape, on Ellesmere Island<ref name=Naresbio/>
* [[Nares River]], from Nares Lake past [[Carcross]] to [[Bennett Lake]]
* Nares Mountain, in Yukon, named in 1883 by Lieutenant Schwatka of the US Army<ref name=Naresbio>[http://www.nares.net/george_strong_nares_1831.htm Sir George Strong Nares] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928102539/http://www.nares.net/george_strong_nares_1831.htm# |date=28 September 2007 }} biography at [http://www.nares.net Nares Family Tree Web site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928102533/http://www.nares.net/# |date=28 September 2007 }}</ref>
* [[Nares Inlet, Ontario]]
* [[County of Nares]] in [[Queensland]], Australia<ref>{{cite QPN|23870|Nares|county|access-date=21 June 2017}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Coleman, E. C. (2006). ''The Royal Navy in Polar Exploration from Franklin to Scott''. Tempus.{{missing ISBN|date=November 2018}}
* Nares, G. S. (1860). ''The Naval Cadet’s Guide, or Seaman’s Companion.'' Portsea.{{missing ISBN|date=November 2018}}
* Nares, G. S. Feilden, H. W. (1878). [https://archive.org/stream/narrativeofvoyag02nareuoft#page/n9/mode/2up ''Narrative of a Voyage to the Polar Sea During 1875–6 in H.M. Ships Alert and Discovery'']{{missing ISBN|date=November 2018}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{BHL author}}
* {{OL author}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}

{{Polar exploration}}
{{Royal Navy Arctic exploration}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nares, George}}
[[Category:19th-century British explorers]]
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1915 deaths]]
[[Category:British explorers of the Pacific]]
[[Category:British explorers of the Arctic]]
[[Category:Collection of the Scott Polar Research Institute]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal Naval School]]
[[Category:People from Abergavenny]]
[[Category:Royal Navy vice admirals]]