Joseph Wiggins collection

The collection comprises of correspondence by Wiggins to the explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith regarding the Kara Sea

Joseph Wiggins was born in Norwich in 1832. He joined his uncle Joseph Potts in Sunderland in 1847 where Potts was a ship owner. At the age of 27 Wiggins was master of Victoria the second largest steamer in the world.

Wiggins became interested in the possibilities of opening up a northern sea route to Russia. From 1874 onwards he sailed north in a variety of vessels with this in mind. He commanded the British Kara Sea Expedition, 1874, 1875, 1876-1877, the British Kara Sea Trading Expeditions, 1878, 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1894-1895, 1895-1896 and the British Russian Kara Sea Trading Expedition, 1893. He died in September 1905

The correspondence to Leigh Smith is arranged chronologically

By appointment.

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The term holograph is used when the item is wholly in the handwriting of the author. The term autograph is used when the author has signed the item.

Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to Arctic, exploration and development c500 BC to 1915, an encyclopaedia by Clive Holland, Garland Publishing, London (1994) and Exploring Polar Frontiers, a historical encyclopaedia by William Mills, San Diego and Oxford, 2003 and 'Joseph Wiggins' by Ian Stone in Arctic 1994 volume 47 p 405-410

Clive Holland Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue, Garland Publishing New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.

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