Aylen, British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1849-1850

• MS 282/5;MSM Map, 1849-1850 [Wolstenholme Sound] tracing

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 Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1849-1850 (leader James Saunders), was sent by the Admiralty to supply Sir James Ross's British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1848-1849. Saunders then examined Smith and Jones Sounds in search of traces of Franklin's missing expedition. The expedition was unable to land provisions at Port Bowen or Port Leopold as intended and turned for home, leaving a depot in Navy Board Inlet.

Chronological

This is a copy

The Institute holds numerous archival collections relating to the missing British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin) and the subsequent search expeditions despatched so uncover the fate of Franklin and his men.

See SPRI collection GB 015 James Elliott for a second map of Wolstenholme Sound (1857)

Original map held by British Admiralty Hydrographic Department (1982)