3-082-831 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Franklin Celebration: Sir John Franklin, 1895. 'On May 20, 1845, the Franklin Expedition set sail, never to return. On May 20, 1895, the Royal Geographical Society commemorated this national event amid the sympathetic interest of all Englishmen. The Arctic seas have fascinated lovers of adventure since the days of Cabot, but "they keep their secret still," despite the repeated attempts to solve it...Sir John Franklin's expedition may be reckoned as the fifty-eighth enterprise of its kind. The Knight was appointed to the larger vessel, the Erebus, and Captain F. R. M. Crosier was in command of the Terror...The biographical record of Sir John Franklin was eventful. He was born at Spilsby, Lincolnshire, in 1786, so was fifty-nine at the time of this departure. He had entered the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen, served on the Polyphemus when Nelson attacked the Danes off Copenhagen, was shipwrecked with Captain Flinders, and was on board the Bellerophon at the Battle of Trafalgar. His first Northern expedition was in 1818, when he commanded the Trent. For two years he was engaged with Sir W. E. Parry on a land journey, attended by great suffering; and a similar experience occupied him from 1825 to 1827'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.