A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Crozier, Francis Rawdon Moira
CROZIER. (Captain, 1841. f-p., 28; h-p., 9.)
Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier was born at Banbridge, co. Down, Ireland.
This officer entered the Navy, 12 June, 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Hamadryad 36, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines; and on removing with the latter, as Midshipman, in June, 1812, to the Briton 38, took his departure for the Pacific. After a further attachment of nearly two years to the Meander 38, Capts. John Bastard and Arthur Fanshawe, lying in the river Thames, and Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Sir Edw. Thornbrough, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, in 1818, as Mate (having passed his examination in Feb. 1817) of the Doterel 18, Capt. Gore. On his return to England in 1821 Mr. Crozier was appointed to the Fury discovery-ship, Capt. Wm. Edw. Parry; in which, and the Hecla, we find him accompanying that officer in the two successive expeditions that sailed from this country for the purpose of ascertaining the existence of a North-West passage; 8 May, 1821, and 8 May, 1824. For his services on the last occasion he was rewarded with a Lieutenant’s commission, dated 2 March, 1826; subsequently to which he rejoined the Hecla, and, becoming a third time the associate of Capt. Parry, left Deptford on another exploratory voyage to the Arctic regions 25 March, 1827. On the Hecla being brought to an anchor, 20 June following, in Treurenburg Bay, lat. 79° 55' 20" N., long. 16° 48' 45" E., Mr. Crozier accompanied his enterprising Captain, who then set out with two sledge-boats on a further progress to the northward across the ice, as far as Walden Island, where they parted company, the former retracing his steps towards the ship. The expedition ultimately returning to the Thames in Oct. 1827, the subject of this memoir was next appointed, 26 April, 1831, to the Stag 46, Capts. Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge and Nich. Lockyer, employed off the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and, 23 Dec. 1835, as First-Lieutenant, to the Cove, Capt. Jas. Clark Ross. On his subsequent return from Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, whither he had gone in quest of some missing whalers, he assumed the rank of Commander 10 Jan. 1837; and, on 11 May, 1839, was appointed to the Terror, in which vessel he soon afterwards sailed with an expedition, under Capt. James Clark Ross, for the purposes of magnetic research and geographical discovery in the Antarctic Ocean. Capt. Crozier, who during his absence was advanced to Post-rank, 16 Aug. 1841, arrived in England in 1843; and – having recommissioned the Terror, 8 March, 1845 – is now co-operating with Sir John Franklin in a fresh attempt to explore the North-West Passage through Lancaster Sound and Bering Strait. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.