Typed notes of Arctic Voyages in search of a North West passage from Europe to the Pacific Ocean between 1818 and 1859 by John Hitchcock Buchan including information on the Spitzbergen expedition, 1819 Franklin expedition, the 1824–1825 expedition with William Edward Parry on HMS HELCA accompanied by Henry Parkyns Hoppner in the HMS FURY which was lost at Prince Regent Inlet, 1845 Franklin's expedition search for the Northwest Passage which lead to his disappearance and the subsequent expeditions that went in search of Franklin.

Also included is the journal of David Buchan's Spitzbergen expedition to reach the North Pole in 1818 by John Buchan (this is a copy). This includes quotes from Sir William Beechy who extracted quotes from David Buchan journal which no longer exists.

Administrative / biographical background
David Buchan (1780 – after 8 December 1838) was a Scottish naval officer and Arctic explorer. In 1806, Buchan was appointed as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and from about 1808 to 1817 he operated in and around Newfoundland. He became Captain 12th June 1823 and was lost at sea with the East Indiaman Upton Castle en route from Calcutta to England 1838. The 1818 Spitzbergen expedition set out at the same time as that of John Ross into Baffin Bay. Both were prompted by the interest of John Barrow in Arctic exploration and the fact that in 1817 whalers reported that the normal ice between Greenland and Spitzbergen had disappeared. The ships were HMS DOROTHEA (Captain Buchan, First Lieutenant Arthur Fleming Morrell, astronomer George Fisher) and HMS TRENT under Lieutenant John Franklin. They left London on 4th April 1818 and reached Spitzbergen in June. They entered Magdalena Bay on the west coast where they were frozen in for a few weeks. Escaping the bay they worked their way north through leads in the ice, often dragging the ships with ropes. By early July they were about 30 miles into the ice and could go no further. They were a little north of 80°, about the same latitude as northernmost Spitzbergen. It took only nine days to return to open water, but almost immediately they were hit by a storm which threatened to drive them onto the ice. The storm died down but HMS DOROTHEA was too damaged to continue in the Arctic. Franklin wanted to continue with Trent but Buchan overruled him. They reached home on 30th September. John Hitchcock Buchan (1804 - 1871) was an Officer in the army and Manager at Real del Monte Mine in Mexico 1826.(English equipment to drain mine tunnels flooded by groundwater since the Spanish period.)