Franklin expeditions

Sir John Franklin, a British naval officer, made a number of exploratory trips to the Canadian Arctic, including his last, in 1845, which ended with the sinking of both ships under his command near King William Island (Nunavut). Of some 30 expeditions involved in the search for the lost ships and crew during the 1847–59 period, just four managed to piece together the basic facts of Franklin’s last years. Some relics, along with two brief written records, provide most of the known facts: In September 1846 the ships became inextricably beset in ice northwest of King William Island. Franklin died while trapped with his ships in 1847; no cause of death was recorded.

The wrecks of Franklin’s ships, HMS Erebus and Terror, were found near King William Island, Nunavut, in 2014 and 2016 respectively.