3-082-833 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Franklin Celebration: Franklin relics - cook's knife and its handle, gold-lace band, spoons and fork, 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. In the Franklin Room at the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, there were exhibited many of the relics which alone told the story of the expedition's end...The long silence which followed after the departure of Sir John presaged the tragedy which later search revealed. Dr. Rae brought home several pathetic relics of the unfortunate expedition. He had heard that some Esquimaux possessed some curious articles, which they claimed to have received from an officer in command of forty English sailors in exchange for food. This was in 1850, and shortly afterwards the dead bodies of the men were found near Back River, and the Esquimaux removed other relics from them...It was on the western shore of King William's Land that various relics of Sir John Franklin's expedition were found'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.