Edward Lawton Moss was a naval surgeon who spent several years at the new hospital in Esquimalt, British Columbia, in the late 19th century, while living in Victoria. His life and letters and paintings form the basis for Paul Appleton's book, Resurrecting Dr. Moss : The Life and Letters of a Royal Navy Surgeon, Edward Lawton Moss M.D., R.N. (University Press of Calgary, 2007). Paul Appleton found Dr. Moss's medical records and subsequently located some of his descendants in England where Dr. Moss's wife and three children lived out their lives. He received a shoe box of the 50 letters that Moss had sent home to his mother. The author died of leukemia just five days before word came that his book would be published. Footnotes were provided by editor William Barr.

Dr. Moss himself wrote an extremely rare book, Shores of Polar Sea, about his participation in Britain's last major polar expedition, and he visited Troy with the archaeologist Schleiman. One copy of Shores of Polar Sea has been for sale via Abebooks for $8,599 U.S. The full title is Shores of the Polar Sea, a Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875 (Marcus Ward & Co. 1878). It is illustrated by 16 chromo-lithographs and numerous engravings from drawings made by the author.

BOOKS:

Shores of the Polar Sea, a Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875 (Marcus Ward & Co. 1878).