Anderson, correspondence

• MS 248/333;D Letter to Jane, Lady Franklin, 17 September 1855 [Regarding search for Franklin relics] 3 leaves, holograph
• MS 1100/4;D Letter to Jane, Lady Franklin, 7 June 1855 [Regarding his Franklin search] 4 leaves (Xerox)

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, 1855 (led by Anderson) was dispatched by the Hudson's Bay Company to search the area of the Back River. Relics were uncovered at Montreal Island but bad weather forced them to return to Fort Resolution.

Alphabetical.

MS 1100/4;D is a copy

The Institute holds several archival collections containing material regarding this expedition see SPRI collections GB 15 Sophia Cracroft, GB 15 Jane Franklin and GB 15 Sir Francis Beaufort.

MS 1100/4;D original letter held by Whitby Museum (England) (1982)