Wood correspondence

Scope and Content

  • MS 248/492/1;D Letter to Thomas B Horsfall, 27 August 1857 [Refusal on behalf of Admiralty to send Resolute to join final search for Franklin] holograph
  • MS 248/492/2;D Letter to Roderick Murchison, 7 April 1857 [Cannot meet Lady Franklin's request to send out another expedition]

Administrative / Biographical History

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.

Arrangement

Alphabetical

Related Material

The Institute holds archival collections for Thomas Horsfall and Jane, lady Franklin