William Mogg was born in 1796 at Bridgwater, Somerset. He was educated at Dr Burney's Naval School in Gosport, entering the Navy as a first class volunteer in 1811 and serving in a succession of vessels engaged in the task of patrolling the coasts of Europe during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1817, he was appointed to the surveying brig HMS Investigator, employed in conducting surveys in the Shetland Islands.
He was appointed clerk in HMS Hecla on the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1821-1823 (leader William Edward Parry), sent by the Admiralty to search for a passage along the west coast of Foxe Basin. The following year he returned to the Arctic as clerk in HMS Fury on the British Naval Northwest Passage, 1824-1825 (leader William Edward Parry), sent to seek a passage through Prince Regent Inlet to the American mainland coast, then following the coast west. In August 1825, Fury was forced aground at Fury Point, Somerset Island, and Parry reluctantly abandoned the expedition, taking both crews aboard Hecla before returning to England. During both expeditions, Mogg ran evening schools for the crews and plays were regularly performed.
In 1826, Mogg set sail for the South American Station in HMS Ganges, arriving the following year at Rio de Janeiro where HMS Beagle was undergoing a refit. Mogg was appointed acting-purser of HMS Beagle, remaining with the expedition until its first return to England in 1830, after which he travelled extensively in Europe for eighteen years. He died in 1875 near Southampton.
From the guide to the William Mogg collection, 1824-1825, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
