naval officer who performed many coastal surveys for the British Admiralty.

The grandson of a governor of Nova Scotia, Belcher entered the navy in 1812. After serving as a surveyor with an expedition to the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Strait in 1825, he commanded a surveying ship along the north and west coasts of Africa (1830–33). He undertook a voyage to the west coasts of North and South America, the South Pacific, and China (1836–42) and a subsequent voyage to China, Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and Formosa (1843–46).

In 1852 Belcher was given command of an Arctic expedition to search for the explorer Sir John Franklin (Franklin, Sir John), who was lost in attempting to find the Northwest Passage. The hardships of the voyage seemed to tax Belcher beyond his abilities: he ordered four ice-bound ships abandoned in May 1854, apparently without justification. Relieved of further command, he described his Arctic venture in The Last of the Arctic Voyages (1855). He was created a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1867 and he became an admiral in 1872.