Allan McLaren R. N.,
Convict Ship Surgeon-Superintendent
Date of Seniority Royal Navy 17 July 1824.
Allan McLaren was appointed Assistant-Surgeon in the Royal Navy on 19 May 1812.
He accompanied the second and third voyages of Sir William Edward Parry in search of a Northwest Passage -
Voyage of Discovery
Sir William Edward Parry (1790–1855) of the Royal Navy led four official Arctic expeditions in the 1820s in search of a Northwest Passage.1st Expedition (1819–1820) Ships: HMS Hecla (Parry's flagship) HMS Griper (commanded by Matthew Liddon) Departure: 11 May 1819 from the Thames (London). Result: Reached Lancaster Sound and pushed further west into the Arctic Archipelago than anyone before. Overwintered at Winter Harbour, Melville Island.
2nd Expedition (1821–1823) Ships: HMS Fury (Parry's flagship) HMS Hecla (again accompanying) Departure: 8 May 1821 from Deptford, London. Result: Explored Foxe Basin and Fury and Hecla Strait, wintering at Igloolik (1822–23). Surgeon on the Fury John Edwards; Assistant Surgeon James Skeoch. Surgeon on Hecla Alexander Fisher; Assistant Surgeon Allan McLaren (see image below [1]). Cape McLaren, Melville Island was named by Sir Edward Parry after Allan McLaren [2]
3rd Expedition (1824–1825) Ships: HMS Fury (Parry's flagship) HMS Hecla Departure: 8 May 1824 from England. Result: Severe ice conditions off Prince Regent Inlet. Fury was wrecked in August 1825; Hecla returned to England. Allan McLaren was promoted to Surgeon 17 July 1824 so was employed as Surgeon on the Fury on this expedition. Assistant Surgeon, Fury: Robert McCormick (later sailed with John Ross and Charles Darwin).
4th Expedition (1827) – (Not strictly a Northwest Passage attempt, but an attempt to reach the North Pole) Ship: HMS Hecla Departure: 4 April 1827 from Deptford, London. Result: From Spitsbergen, Parry attempted to reach the North Pole with sledges and boats. Reached 82°45′N—the farthest north attained at that time.
Surgeon Superintendent
Allan McLaren was employed as Surgeon-Superintendent on two convict ship voyages to Australia:- Hydery to Van Diemen's Land in 1832.
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Maitland to Norfolk Island and New South Wales in 1844.
Hydery 1832
Departed from the Downs. Arrived in Hobart 11 August 1832. Medical Journal from 3 March to 17 August 1832.Maitland 1844
The Maitland sailed from Plymouth on the 1st September 1843 arriving in Sydney Cove on 12th January 1844 before sailing for Norfolk Island. Medical Journal from 21st July 1843 to 23 March 1844.References
[1] Journal of a second voyage for the discovery of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific performed in the years 1821-22-23, in His Majesty's ships Fury and Hecla, under the orders of Captain William Edward Parry, R.N., F.R.S., and commander of the expedition[2] Sessional Papers of the Parliament of the Dominion of Canada Volume 45, Issue 13 By Canada. Parliament · 1911
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