Sir John Franklin

1786 - 1847

After extensive exploratory nautical travel, John Franklin was awarded many high honours, including those from the Geographical Society of Paris, Oxford university, and receiving a knighthood from the English monarchy. He married his second wife, Jane Griffin, on Nov. 5th, 1823. In 1836, he was appointed lieutenant-governer of Van Diemen's Land, where he governed well for over 7 years. In 1845, he assumed command of an expedition to solve the problem of the North West passage. Two ships, the Erebus and the Terror, provisioned for three years, set sail on May 18th. Years past without a word from or about the crew. In 1850, traces of the ships were found &endash; meat found to be rotton was dumped, depleting the ship's stores. In 1854, some small articles which clearly belonged to the officers of the Erebus and the Terror were found near King William's Land. At this point, many people gave up hope, but others, especially Lady Franklin, continued the search. In 1859, among other debris, a piece of paper was found which told of the desertion of the ships in 1848, and the death of Sir John Franklin on June 11th, 1847. Though the rest of the crew must have died horribly, Sir John was fortunate to have died having seen the object of his desire, the North West passage. He is officially recognised as the discoverer of this passage.