Maclean says the title of the work is collective and could include other voyages of discovery by Hudson, Furbisher, Parry, Nansen and Shackleton.

“It is Vitus Bering,1680, that I consider to be the father of these Voyages”

Elements fragmented in the work refer to the scientific experiments of all these brave voyagers - a theme also referred to in earlier work such as Ice Log, 1998, a mixed media construction exhibited in the 2022 retrospective exhibition at Edinburgh’s City Art Centre: Points of Departure.

“Perhaps the most important image in terms of the composition is the reference to pen and paper and ink text. Apart from the obvious means of recording information such as that set down in the 1882/85 journals of the Hecla and the Fury during their voyages into terra incognita - to discover a North West passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific - they relate directly and are a homage to my friend the artist Simon Lewty.”