Joseph René Bellot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Joseph-René Bellot
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Portrait by Stephen Pearce
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| Born | 18 March 1826 Paris, France |
| Died | 18 August 1853 (aged 27) Wellington Channel |
| Branch |  French Navy |
| Service years | 1841–1853 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Conflicts |
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| Awards | Legion of Honour |
Joseph-René Bellot (born March 18, 1826 – died August 18, 1853) was a brave French naval officer and a famous Arctic explorer. He explored cold, icy lands in the far north.
Biography
Joseph-René Bellot was born in Paris, France. His father was a farrier, someone who shoes horses. When Joseph was five years old, his family moved to Rochefort.
At age 15, with help from the people in Rochefort, he joined the Ecole Navale (Naval School) in Brest. He studied there for two years and was known as a very good student.
In 1845, he joined a trip with French and British forces to Madagascar. He showed great courage and was given the Legion of Honour, a very important award. Later, he helped open the Río de la Plata in South America for trade.
Arctic Expeditions
In 1851, Bellot joined an Arctic trip led by Captain William Kennedy. They were searching for Sir John Franklin, another explorer who had gone missing. To get ready for the cold Arctic winters, Bellot reportedly slept on a hard board with only a thin mattress and one blanket.
He was very kind to the Inuit people he met. He even built an artificial leg for a man who had lost his own, which made the Inuit like him very much.
In February 1852, Kennedy and Bellot went on a long journey by dog sled from their winter camp in Batty Bay. They traveled south and found Bellot Strait, a narrow waterway between Boothia Felix and Somerset Island. They continued west across Prince of Wales Island to Ommanney Bay. They returned to Batty Bay by going through Peel Sound and Cape Walker. This whole trip was about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) long! Bellot wrote about this amazing journey, and his story was published after he died in 1854.
In early 1852, Joseph-René Bellot was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. That same year, he joined another trip to find Franklin, this time with Captain Edward Augustus Inglefield. Again, Bellot was admired for his intelligence, dedication, and bravery.
Tragic End
While on a dangerous trip with two friends to connect with Sir Edward Belcher, Bellot sadly disappeared. He fell into a gap between broken pieces of ice in the Wellington Channel. A memorial was built for him on nearby Beechey Island. The emperor Napoleon III gave money to Bellot's family to help them after his death.
Legacy
Many people were sad about the young explorer's death. A group called the Royal Geographical Society raised £2,000 to honor him. Sir Roderick Murchison led this effort.
- £500 was used to build a tall stone monument (an obelisk) in his memory. It was designed by Philip Hardwick and was revealed in 1855. You can see it by the Thames River in front of Greenwich Hospital in London.
- The rest of the money helped support his five sisters.
- A street in Greenwich, Bellot Street SE10, is also named after him.
- In 1935, a crater on the Moon, near the Sea of Fecundity, was named Bellot in his honor.
See also
In Spanish: Joseph René Bellot para niños
