Keys to History

Some thirty expeditions set out in search of Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), who disappeared in the Arctic in 1847. It was the expedition of 1857-59, headed by Francis Leopold McClintock (1819-1907), which confirmed the death of Franklin and his men. After spending the winter of 1845-46 on Beechey Island, Franklin sailed south through Peel Sound. He reached Victoria Strait, near King William Island, but his ships were hemmed in by ice. A manuscript left by one of Franklin's subordinates indicates that Franklin died of a heart attack in June 1847 and that, despite the arrival of summer, the ships could not escape the ice. In April 1848, twenty-one men died of starvation or scurvy. The rest of the crew abandoned ship and attempted to get to the mainland on foot, but in a weakened state, all the men perished of exposure, hunger or scurvy. The search parties that went looking for Franklin found many artifacts. These objects attest to what happened to Franklin, but also offer evidence of his contribution to knowledge of Canada's northern coasts.