The Lost Franklin Expedition: Losses and Gains

The elusive hunt for the Northwest Passage may have led to tragedy, but it reaped some information about the uncharted Arctic lands.

A painting of HMS Erebus in the Ice, 1846; National Maritime Museum. Public Domain

In 1845, British naval officer Sir John Franklin left with a crew and two ships to find the Northwest Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans only to be lost at sea and never seen again. Between 1847 and 1880, around 30 search expeditions were launched to find clues as to what happened to Franklin and his crew. Although the ships wouldn’t be found until over a century later, the search expeditions made some discoveries within the Arctic Region.

Daguerreotype photograph of Sir John Franklin taken in 1845, prior to the expedition's departure. Public Domain