John Balleny was born circa 1770. Little is known of his early life and education. In 1798, Balleny, living at St. George's in the East, then the shipping quarter of London, he was co-owner of a cargo ship, Blenheim . From 1814 to 1824, he was recorded as master of several ships trading along the east coast of England. His name is absent from shipping records in the following years, suggesting that he may have retired from the sea. In July 1838, Messrs. Enderby, the London whaling and sealing firm, bought the schooner, Eliza Scott and appointed Balleny master of the ship, with a commission to search for new lands and sealing or whaling grounds in far southern latitudes. Accompanied by the cutter, Sabrina (Captain Thomas Freeman), he sailed from the Thames on 14 July 1838. After sighting Amsterdam Island the ships reached New Zealand in early December. At Campbell Island in January 1839, he met John Biscoe on a similar search for land in the Antarctic. The expedition reached 69°South in the Ross Sea in February, before being stopped by the pack ice. On 9 February 1839, Balleny sighted land, north of the Ross Sea, in latitude 66.7°South and longitude 162.3°East. This group of five islands were later named the Balleny Islands in his honour. Approaching one of the larger islands, Captain Freeman jumped ashore to collect rocks from a narrow beach, making the first landing south of the Antarctic Circle. Sailing westwards, Balleny described 'the appearance of land', about 65°South, 120°East, east of what is now known as Sabrina Coast. Unable to approach closer, the two ships headed northward. On the night of 24 March, in a severe gale, Sabrina sank with all hands. Eliza Scott returned safely to Britain, but the voyage was deemed a commercial failure as the sealskins he unloaded paid for only a fraction of the expedition costs.
Between 1840 and 1841, Balleny was master of the new barque, Taglioni, on its voyage to Calcutta, and in 1842, to Australia. He appears to have died around this date, as there is no further record of him.
From the guide to the John Balleny collection, 1838-1839, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
