McDonald, Alexander

Alexander McDonald [MacDonald] studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. In 1840, he participated in the British Whaling and Exploring Expedition, sailing to Baffin Island in Bon Accord under Captain William Penny. In 1845, he was appointed assistant surgeon in HMS Terror under Francis Crozier on the ill-fated British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin), sent by the Admiralty to complete the search for a Northwest Passage beyond Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait in the unexplored region south-west of Barrow Strait. Terror and HMS Erebus were last seen by two whalers in northern Baffin Bay in late July 1845, heading for Lancaster Sound. After that, the expedition disappeared and Europeans never again saw its members alive. Many searches were conducted for the missing expedition during the course of which the main facts regarding the route taken and final fate of the expedition were established. The two vessels had become beset north of King William Island, where they had spent two winters between September 1846 and April 1848. Franklin died on 11 June 1847 and the command had devolved on Crozier. Abandoning the two vessels on 22 April 1848, the 105 survivors led by Crozier set out toward Back River. All perished during the journey. McDonald was the author of A narrative of some passages in the history of Eenoolooapik, a young Esquimaux, who was brought to Britain in 1839, in the ship Neptune of Abderdeen... published in 1826.

From the guide to the Alexander McDonald collection, 1841-1845, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)