Cartwright, papers

• MS 1259/8;D Paper, 11 November 1850 [Recent Arctic Operations, read at Royal Geographical Society] 4 leaves, holograph (copy)

In 1845 Sir John Franklin sailed north in command of the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition. Sent by the Admiralty the two ships HMS Erebus (Franklin) and HMS Terror (Francis Crozier) were to search for a passage via Lancaster Sound. With provisions designed to last three years the expedition sailed north in May 1845. Whalers in Baffin Bay were the last Europeans to see the two ships in July of 1845.

Many searches were conducted for the missing expedition, during the course of which the main facts regarding the route taken and the final fate of the expedition were established.

The British Franklin Search Expedition, 1850 (leader Charles Forsyth) was sponsored by Jane, Lady Franklin and public subscription to search for the missing expedition in the region of Boothia Peninsula and Prince Regent Inlet. The expedition landed at Port Leopold to examine the site of Sir James Ross's wintering. Heavy ice hampered their progress through the inlet and they were unable to pass beyond Fury Point instead they turned back and crossed Barrow Strait to Cape Riley on Devon Island. There, they learned of the discovery of relics of the Franklin expedition at Cape Riley and of the discovery of Franklin's winter quarters on nearby Beechey Island. The expedition returned to Britain to convey the news to Lady Franklin and the Admiralty.

Chronological

The paper was unpublished in either the Journal or Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.

The Institute holds several archival collections containing material relating to this Franklin search expedition see SPRI collections GB 15 Sophia Cracroft, GB 15 Charles Duncan, GB 15 Charles Forsyth, GB 15 Jane Franklin, GB 15 William Hogarth, GB 15 Sir William Edward Parry, GB 15 Charles Philips, GB 15 William Snow and GB 15 Charles Richard Weld