White, correspondence

• MS 248/490/1;D Letter to John Barrow, 14 November 1854 [Regarding John Rae and fate of Sir John Franklin] holograph
• MS 248/490/2-6;D Letters (5) to Sophia Cracroft, 1 November 1854 to 15 June 1857 [Regarding John Rae and fate of Sir John Franklin] 7 leaves, holograph
• MS 248/490/7;D Telegram to Jane, Lady Franklin, 12 December 1856 [Announcing the arrival of Resolute]

The correspondence relates to the search for the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin) with particular mention of the British Exploring and Franklin Search Expedition, 1853-1854 (leader John Rae) [Hudson's Bay Co]. Sent to complete the survey of the north coast of America by exploring the west coast of Boothia Peninsula between Castor and Pollux River and Bellot Strait.

Although Rae did not plan to search for the missing British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin) he found the first substantial clues to the fate of the expedition. Eskimo reported that a party of about forty white men had been seen walking toward Back River a few years earlier and that later in the season about thirty corpses had been seen west of the Back River. After purchasing articles taken by the Eskimos from those corpses, Rae returned to York Factory before sailing for England to present his evidence to the Admiralty in the autumn of 1854.

Alphabetical

The Institute holds several archival collections containing material on John Rae's Franklin search expedition of 1853-1854 see SPRI collections GB 015 John Rae, GB 015 Jane Franklin and GB 015 Sir George Simpson.