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{{Short description|British naval officer and explorer (1786–1847)}}
{{Redirect|Sir John Franklin}}
{{Similar names}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[Rear admiral (Royal Navy)|Rear-Admiral]] 
| name                = Sir John Franklin
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnom|country=GBR|KCH|FRS|FLS|FRGS|size=100%}}
| image               = Sir John Franklin by Thomas Phillips.jpg
| caption             = ''[[Portrait of John Franklin]]'' by [[Thomas Phillips]], 1828
| office              = [[Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land]]
| term                = {{start and end date|1837|01|05|1843|08|21|df=y}}
| 1blankname          = [[Chief secretary (British Empire)|Secretary]]
| 1namedata           = [[John Montagu (colonial secretary)|John Montagu]]
| predecessor         = [[Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet|Sir George Arthur]]
| successor           = [[Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet|Sir John Eardley-Wilmot]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1786|04|16|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Spilsby]], [[Lincolnshire]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1847|06|11|1786|04|16|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[King William Island]], [[North-Western Territory]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Eleanor Anne Porden]]|19 August 1823|22 February 1825|reason=her death}}
* {{marriage|[[Jane Franklin|Jane Griffin]]|5 November 1828}}}}
| children            = Eleanor Isabella Franklin
| branch_label        = Branch
| branch              = {{navy|UKGBI|size=20px}}
| serviceyears_label  = Service&nbsp;years
| serviceyears        = 1800–1847
| rank                = [[Rear-Admiral]]
| battles_label       = Wars
| battles             = {{Tree list}}
* [[French Revolutionary Wars]]
**[[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|Battle of Copenhagen]]
* [[Napoleonic Wars]]
**[[Battle of Pulo Aura]]
**[[Battle of Trafalgar]]
* [[War of 1812]]
**[[Battle of Lake Borgne]] {{WIA}}
{{tree list/end}}
| military_blank1     = Expeditions
| military_data1      = {{plainlist|
* [[Coppermine expedition]]
* [[Mackenzie River expedition]]
* [[Franklin's lost expedition|Franklin's expedition]]}}
| signature           = Signature of John Franklin (1786–1847).png
}}

[[Rear admiral (Royal Navy)|Rear-Admiral]]  '''Sir John Franklin''' {{postnom|country=GBR|size=100%|KCH|FRS|FLS|FRGS}} (16 April 1786&nbsp;– 11 June 1847) was a British [[Royal Navy]] officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and the [[War of 1812]], he led two expeditions into the [[Northern Canada|Canadian Arctic]] and through the islands of the [[Arctic Archipelago]], during the [[Coppermine expedition]] of 1819 and the [[Mackenzie River expedition]] of 1825, and served as [[Governor of Tasmania|Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land]] from 1837 to 1843. During [[Franklin's lost expedition|his third and final expedition]], an attempt to traverse the [[Northwest Passage]] in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off [[King William Island]] in what is now [[Nunavut]], where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later, and the entire crew died from causes such as starvation, [[hypothermia]], and [[scurvy]].

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
Franklin was born in [[Spilsby]], Lincolnshire, on {{nowrap|16 April 1786}}, the ninth of twelve children born to Hannah Weekes and Willingham Franklin. His father was a merchant descended from a line of country gentlemen, while his mother was the daughter of a farmer.{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=13}} One of his brothers later entered the legal profession and eventually became a judge in [[Chennai|Madras]]; another joined the [[East India Company]]; while a sister, Sarah, was the mother of [[Emily, Lady Tennyson|Emily Tennyson]], wife of [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]].{{sfn|Traill|1896|p=3}} John Franklin must have been affected by an obvious desire to better his social and economic position, given that his elder brothers struggled, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to establish themselves in a wide variety of careers.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Davis |editor1-first=Richard C. |title=Sir John Franklin's Journals and Correspondence: The First Arctic Land Expedition, 1819–1822 |date=2013 |publisher=The Publications of the Champlain Society |page=12 |doi=10.3138/9781442618091 |isbn=978-0-9693425-4-0 }}</ref>

Educated at [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth|King Edward VI Grammar School]] in [[Louth, Lincolnshire|Louth]], he soon became interested in a career at sea.{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=14}} His father, who intended for Franklin to enter the church or become a businessman,{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=13}} was initially opposed but was reluctantly convinced to allow him to go on a trial voyage on a merchant ship when he was aged 12.{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=15}} His experience of seafaring only confirmed his interest in a career at sea, so in March 1800, Franklin's father secured him a [[Royal Navy]] appointment on {{HMS|Polyphemus|1782|6}}.{{sfn|Lamb|1956|pp=15–16}}

Commanded by Captain Lawford, the ''Polyphemus'' carried 64&nbsp;guns{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=16}} and, at the time of Franklin's appointment, was still at sea. He did not join the vessel until the autumn of 1800. Initially serving as a first-class volunteer,{{sfn|Traill|1896|p=8}} Franklin soon saw action in the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|Battle of Copenhagen]] in which the ''Polyphemus'' participated as part of [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]]'s squadron.{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=17}} An expedition around the coast of Australia aboard {{HMS|Investigator|1801|6}}, commanded by his cousin Captain [[Matthew Flinders]], followed, with Franklin now a [[midshipman]].{{sfn|Lamb|1956|p=18}} The two later survived the sinking of [[HMS Porpoise (1799)|HMS ''Porpoise'']] on their return to England,<ref>*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Franklin, Sir John}}</ref> Franklin continuing the journey aboard the {{ship||Earl Camden|1802 EIC ship|2}}, which under the Captaincy of [[Nathaniel Dance]] frightened off Admiral [[Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois|Charles de Durand-Linois]] at the [[Battle of Pulo Aura]] in the [[South China Sea]] on {{nowrap|14 February 1804}}. He was present at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805 aboard {{HMS|Bellerophon|1786|6}}. During the [[War of 1812]] against the United States, Franklin, now a lieutenant, served aboard {{HMS|Bedford|1775|6}} and was wounded during the [[Battle of Lake Borgne]] on 14 December 1814.<ref>{{London Gazette|pages=446–449|issue=16991|date=9 March 1815}}</ref>

Franklin commanded HMS Trent in 1818 on a journey from London to [[Svalbard|Spitzbergen]], now Svalbard.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Waring |first1=Sophie |title=Dog watch of HMS Trent including daily observations and calculations |url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-FIS-00004/4 |website=Cambridge University Digital Library |access-date=19 November 2019}}</ref> The overall expedition was commanded by Captain [[David Buchan]] on HMS ''Dorothea''.

=== 1819: Coppermine expedition ===
[[File:Sir John Franklin SLNSW FL3318446.jpg|thumb|Sir John Franklin, c. 1835]]
{{main|Coppermine expedition}}
In 1819, Franklin was chosen to lead the [[Coppermine expedition]] overland from [[Hudson Bay]] to chart the north coast of Canada eastwards from the mouth of the [[Coppermine River]].<ref name=DCB>{{cite DCB |url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/franklin_john_7E.html |title=Franklin, Sir John |first=Clive |last=Holland |volume=7}}</ref> On his 1819 expedition, Franklin fell into the [[Hayes River]] at Robinson Falls and was rescued by a member of his expedition about {{convert|90|m|yards|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} downstream.<ref name=HayesRiver>{{cite web|url=http://ww3.tvo.org/video/162916/great-canadian-rivers-hayes|title=Great Canadian Rivers: The Hayes|website=TV Ontario|date=29 October 2001|access-date=14 December 2013|archive-date=21 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221104044/http://ww3.tvo.org/video/162916/great-canadian-rivers-hayes|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Between 1819 and 1822, he lost 11 of the 20&nbsp;men in his party. Most died of starvation or exhaustion, but there was also at least one murder and suggestions of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]. The survivors were forced to eat [[lichen]] and even attempted to eat their own leather boots. This gained Franklin the nickname of "the man who ate his boots".<ref name=narrative>{{cite book|last=Franklin|first=John|title=Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea |publisher=John Murray |location=London |volume=II |edition=3rd |page=279 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18985/18985-h/18985-h.htm |via=Gutenberg.org|date=3 August 2006}}</ref>

=== 1823: Marriage and third Arctic expedition ===
{{main|Mackenzie River expedition}}
In 1823, after returning to England, Franklin married the poet [[Eleanor Anne Porden]]. Their daughter, Eleanor Isabella, was born the following year. His wife died of tuberculosis in 1825.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gell |first1=Edith |title=John Franklin's Bride |date=1930 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |page=303}}</ref> Eleanor Isabella married Reverend John Philip Gell in 1849.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Woodward|first=Frances J.|title=John Philip Gell (1816–1898)|id2=gell-john-philip-2087|volume=1|year=1966|access-date=20 January 2021}}</ref> She died in 1860.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Gell; Eleanor Isabella (1824-1860)|url=https://calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=DS/UK/1245|access-date=20 January 2021|website=Derbyshire Record Office}}</ref>

In 1825, he left for his second Canadian and third [[Arctic]] expedition, the [[Mackenzie River expedition]]. The goal this time was the mouth of the [[Mackenzie River]] from which he would follow the coast westward and possibly meet [[Frederick William Beechey]] who would try to sail northeast from the [[Bering Strait]]. With him was [[John Richardson (naturalist)|John Richardson]] who would follow the coast east from the Mackenzie to the mouth of the Coppermine River.

At the same time, [[William Parry (explorer)|William Edward Parry]] would try to sail west from the Atlantic. (Beechey reached [[Point Barrow]] and Parry became frozen-in {{convert|900|mi|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}} to the east. At this time, the only known points on the north coast were a hundred or so miles east from the Bering Strait, the mouth of the Mackenzie, Franklin's stretch east of the Coppermine, and a bit of the [[Gulf of Boothia]] which had been seen briefly from the land.) Supplies were better organised this time, in part because they were managed by [[Peter Warren Dease]] of the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (HBC).

After reaching [[Great Slave Lake]] using the standard HBC route, Franklin took a reconnaissance trip {{convert|1000|mi|abbr=on}} down the Mackenzie and on {{nowrap|16 August 1825}}, became the second European to reach its mouth. He erected a flagpole with buried letters for Parry. He returned to winter at Fort Franklin (modern-day [[Délı̨nę]]) on [[Great Bear Lake]]. The following summer he went downriver and found the ocean frozen. He worked his way west for several hundred miles and gave up on {{nowrap|16 August 1826}} at Return Reef when he was about {{convert|150|mi|abbr=on}} east of Beechey's Point Barrow.

Reaching safety at Fort Franklin on {{nowrap|21 September 1826}}, he left on {{nowrap|20 February 1827}} and spent the rest of the winter and spring at [[Fort Chipewyan]]. He reached [[Liverpool]] on the first of September 1827. Richardson's eastward journey was more successful.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} Franklin's diary from this expedition describes his men playing [[ice hockey|hockey]] on the ice of the Great Bear Lake; Délı̨nę, built on the site of Fort Franklin, thus considers itself to be one of the birthplaces of the sport.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Boswell |first1=Randy |title=Deline, NWT: The 'birthplace' of hockey? |url=http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674deline_nwt_the_birthplace_of_hockey |website=NunatsiaqOnline |publisher=Nunatsiaq News |access-date=9 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209212700/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674deline_nwt_the_birthplace_of_hockey |archive-date=9 February 2015 |date=17 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On {{nowrap|5 November 1828}}, he married [[Jane Franklin|Jane Griffin]], a friend of his first wife and a seasoned traveller who proved indomitable in the course of their life together. On {{nowrap|29 April 1829}}, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] and the same year awarded the first [[Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations|Gold Medal]] of the [[Société de Géographie]] of France. On {{nowrap|25 January 1836}}, he was made Knight Commander of the [[Royal Guelphic Order]] and a Knight of the Greek [[Order of the Redeemer]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Address |newspaper=The Hobart Town Courier (Tas: 1827–1839)|date=26 May 1837|page=3|via=NLA Australian Newspapers |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4171725}}</ref>

=== 1837: Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land ===
Franklin was appointed [[Governor of Tasmania|Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land]] in 1837 but was removed from office in 1843. He is remembered by a significant landmark in the centre of [[Hobart]]—a statue of him dominates the park known as [[Franklin Square (Hobart)|Franklin Square]], which was the site of the original Government House. On the plinth below the statue appears [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]]'s epitaph:

{{poemquote|text=
Not here! The white north hath thy bones and thou
Heroic sailor soul
Art passing on thine happier voyage now
Toward no earthly pole}}

His wife worked to set up a university, which was eventually established in 1890, and a museum, credited to the [[Royal Society of Tasmania]] in 1843 under the leadership of her husband. [[Jane Franklin|Lady Franklin]] may have worked to have the Lieutenant-Governor's private botanical gardens, established in 1818, managed as a public resource. Lady Franklin also established a [[glyptotheque]] and surrounding lands to support it near Hobart. Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin adopted the daughter of the chief of an [[indigenous Australian]] tribe. She was renamed [[Mathinna (Tasmanian)|Mathinna]] and was raised with their own daughter Eleanor, but she was abandoned in [[Tasmania]] when the Franklins returned to England in 1843.<ref name="raabus">Raabus, Carol: [http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/02/16/3140544.htm The hidden story of Mathinna: spirited, gifted, utterly destroyed], 936 ABC Hobart, 16 February 2011.</ref>

The village of [[Franklin, Tasmania|Franklin]], on the [[Huon River]], is named in his honour, as is the [[Franklin River]] on the [[West Coast, Tasmania|West Coast]] of Tasmania, one of the better known Tasmanian rivers due to the [[Franklin Dam controversy]].<ref name=dab>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=Kathleen|last=Fitzpatrick|title=Sir John Franklin (1786–1847)|year=1966|volume=1|id2=franklin-sir-john-2066}}</ref><ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Kathleen|first=Fitzpatrick|year=1966|volume=1|title=Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847)|id2=franklin-sir-john-2066}}</ref>

Shortly after leaving his post as Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Franklin revisited a cairn on [[Arthurs Seat, Victoria|Arthurs Seat]], a small mountain just inside [[Port Phillip|Port Phillip Bay]] in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], Australia, that he had visited as a midshipman with Captain [[Matthew Flinders]] in April 1802. On this trip he was accompanied by Captain Reid of The Briars and Andrew Murison McCrae of Arthurs Seat Station, now known as [[McCrae Homestead]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McLear|first=Colin|title=A Dreamtime of Dromana: A History of Dromana Through the Eyes of a Pioneering Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZghAAAACAAJ&pg=PP1|year=2006|publisher=Dromana and District Historical Society|isbn=978-0-9757127-6-4|page=22}}</ref>

=== 1845: Northwest Passage expedition ===
{{main|Franklin's lost expedition}}
[[File:Franklin's lost expedition map.png|thumb|upright=1.5|The routes that were thought likely to have been taken by [[HMS Erebus (1826)|HMS ''Erebus'']] and [[HMS Terror (1813)|HMS ''Terror'']], prior to their [[#Rediscovery|2014–2016 rediscovery]]. [[King William Island]] is at centre, coloured a darker green, above the dotted line of the [[Arctic Circle]].<hr/>{{legend-line|blue 2px dashed|Disko Bay to [[Beechey Island]], 1845}}{{legend-line|purple 2px solid|Around Cornwallis Island, 1845–46}}{{legend-line|red 2px dashed|Northwest off [[King William Island]], 1846}}<hr/>{{blockindent|class=nowraplinks|left=1.15|right=1.15|{{hlist|1.&nbsp;[[Cornwallis Island (Nunavut)|Cornwallis Island]]|2.&nbsp;[[Prince of Wales Island (Nunavut)|Prince of Wales Island]]|3.&nbsp;[[Somerset Island (Nunavut)|Somerset Island]]|4.&nbsp;[[Boothia Peninsula]]|5.&nbsp;[[Disko Island]]|6.&nbsp;[[Mackenzie River]]}}}}]]

Exploration of the Arctic coastal mainland after Franklin's second Arctic expedition had left less than {{convert|500|km|abbr=on|0}} of unexplored Arctic coastline. The British decided to send a well-equipped Arctic expedition to complete the charting of the Northwest Passage. After Sir [[James Clark Ross]] declined an offer to command the expedition, an invitation was extended to Franklin, who, despite being 59&nbsp;years old, accepted what was to become [[Franklin's lost expedition]].

A younger man, Commander [[James Fitzjames]], was given command of {{HMS|Erebus|1826|6}}, and Franklin was named the expedition commander. Captain [[Francis Crozier]], who had commanded {{HMS|Terror|1813|6}} during the [[Ross expedition]] of 1841–1844 to the [[Antarctic]], was appointed executive officer and commander of ''Terror''. Franklin was given command on {{nowrap|7 February 1845}}, and received official instructions on {{nowrap|5 May 1845}}.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gibson|first=William|title=Sir John Franklin's Last Voyage: A brief history of the Franklin expedition and the outline of the researches which established the facts of its tragic outcome|journal=The Beaver|page=48|year=1937}}</ref>
[[File:John Franklin 1845.JPG|thumb|[[Daguerreotype]] photograph of Franklin taken in 1845, prior to the expedition's departure. He is wearing the 1843–1846 pattern [[Royal Navy]] undress tailcoat with cocked hat.]]  The crew was chosen by the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]].{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}  Most of them were Englishmen, many were from northern England, and a small number were Irishmen and Scotsmen. {{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

''Erebus'' and ''Terror'' were sturdily built and were outfitted with recent inventions. These included steam engines from the [[London and Greenwich Railway]] that enabled the ships to make {{convert|4|kn|km/h mph|lk=in}} on their own power, a unique combined steam-based heating and distillation system for the comfort of the crew and to provide large quantities of fresh water for the engine's boilers, a mechanism that enabled the iron rudder and propeller to be drawn into iron wells to protect them from damage, ships' libraries of more than 1,000&nbsp;books, and three&nbsp;years' worth of conventionally preserved or tinned preserved food supplies. The tinned preserved food was supplied by a cut-rate provisioner who was awarded the contract a few months before the ships were to sail.

Though the provisioner's "patent process" was sound, the haste with which he had prepared thousands of cans of food led to sloppily applied beads of [[solder]] on the cans' interior edges, allowing lead to leach into the food. Additionally, the water distillation system may have used lead piping and lead-soldered joints, which would have produced drinking water with a high lead content.<ref name="Battersby">{{cite journal|last=Battersby|first=William|title=Identification of the Probable Source of the Lead Poisoning Observed in Members of the Franklin Expedition|journal=Journal of the Hakluyt Society|year=2008|url=https://www.hakluyt.com/PDF/Battersby_Franklin.pdf|access-date=19 September 2018|archive-date=8 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108214503/https://www.hakluyt.com/PDF/Battersby_Franklin.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Franklin Expedition set sail from [[Greenhithe, Kent|Greenhithe]], England, on {{nowrap|19 May 1845}}, with a crew of 24&nbsp;officers and 110&nbsp;men. The ships travelled north to [[Aberdeen]] and the [[Orkney|Orkney Isles]] for supplies. From Scotland, the ships sailed to Greenland with {{HMS|Rattler|1843|6}} and a transport ship, ''Barretto Junior''. After misjudging the location of Whitefish Bay on [[Disko Island]], the expedition backtracked and finally harboured in that far north outpost to prepare for the rest of their voyage. Five&nbsp;crew members were discharged and sent home on the ''Rattler'' and ''Barretto Junior'', reducing the ships' final crew size to 129. The expedition was last seen by Europeans on {{nowrap|26 July 1845}}, when Captain Dannett of the whaler {{ship||Prince of Wales|1793 ship|2}} encountered ''Terror'' and ''Erebus'' moored to an iceberg in [[Lancaster Sound]].

It is now believed that the expedition wintered on [[Beechey Island]] in 1845–46. ''Terror'' and ''Erebus'' became trapped in ice off [[King William Island]] in September 1846. According to a note later found on that island, Franklin died there on {{nowrap|11 June 1847}}, but the exact location of his grave is unknown.

[[File:John Franklin ILN.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Engraving of Charles Bacon's statue of Franklin in [[Spilsby]] in 1861, prior to its installation]]
After two&nbsp;years and no word from the expedition, [[Jane Franklin|Lady Franklin]] urged the Admiralty to send a search party. Because the crew carried supplies for three&nbsp;years, the Admiralty waited another year before launching a search and offering a £20,000&nbsp;reward ({{Inflation|UK|20000|1847|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) for finding the expedition. The money and Franklin's fame led to many searches.

At one point, ten&nbsp;British and two&nbsp;American ships, {{USS|Advance|1847|6}} and {{USS|Rescue|1850|6}}, headed for the Arctic. Eventually, more ships and men were lost looking for Franklin than in the expedition itself. Ballads such as "[[Lady Franklin's Lament]]", commemorating Lady Franklin's search for her lost husband, became popular.<ref>{{cite book|last=M'Clintock|first=Francis L.|title=The Voyage of the 'Fox' in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions|location=London|publisher=John Murray|year=1859|url=https://archive.org/stream/voyageoffoxinarc00mcli_0}}</ref>

In the summer of 1850, several expeditions, including three from England as well as one from the United States, joined in the search. They converged off the east coast of Beechey Island, where the first relics of the Franklin expedition were found, including the gravesites of three of Franklin's crewmen. Many presumed Franklin was still alive, and he was promoted to [[Rear-Admiral of the Blue]] in October 1852, an example of an unintentional [[posthumous promotion]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=21375 |date=2 November 1852 |page=2867}}</ref>

In 1854, the Scottish explorer [[John Rae (explorer)|John Rae]], while surveying the [[Boothia Peninsula]] for the Hudson's Bay Company, discovered the true fate of the Franklin party from talking to [[Inuit]] hunters. He was told both ships had become icebound, and the men had tried to reach safety on foot but had succumbed to cold, and some had resorted to cannibalism.<ref name="McGoogan">{{cite book|first=Ken|last=McGoogan|year=2002|author-link=Ken McGoogan|title=Fatal Passage: The True Story of John Rae, the Arctic Hero Time Forgot|publisher=HarperCollins|location=Toronto|isbn=9780006386599|title-link=Fatal Passage}}</ref> [[Forensic science|Forensic]] evidence of cut marks on the [[Skeleton|skeletal]] remains of crew members found on [[King William Island]] during the late 20th century somewhat supported the Inuit accounts of reported [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keenleyside |first1=Anne |last2=Bertulli |first2=Margaret |last3=Fricke |first3=Henry C. |name-list-style=amp |date=March 1997 |title=The final days of the Franklin Expedition: new skeletal evidence |url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Arctic |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=36–46 |doi=10.14430/arctic1089 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216122748/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf |archive-date=16 February 2008 |access-date=26 January 2008}}</ref>

Rae's report to the Admiralty was leaked to the press, which led to widespread revulsion in [[Victorian era|Victorian society]], enraged Franklin's widow, and condemned Rae to ignominy. Lady Franklin's efforts to eulogise her husband, with support from the [[The Establishment#United Kingdom|British Establishment]], led to a further 25&nbsp;searches over the next four decades, none of which would add much further information of note regarding Franklin and his men, but contributed hugely to the mapping of the Arctic.<ref name="McGoogan"/>

In the mid-1980s, Owen Beattie, a [[University of Alberta]] professor of [[anthropology]], began a 10-year series of scientific studies that showed that the Beechey Island crew had most likely died of [[pneumonia]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Amy|first1=Roger|last2=Bhatnagar|first2=Rakesh|last3= Damkjar|first3=Eric|last4=Beattie|first4=Owen|title=The last Franklin Expedition: report of a postmortem examination of a crew member|journal=[[Canadian Medical Association Journal]]|volume=135|issue=2|pages=115–117|date=15 July 1986|pmid=3521821|pmc=1491204}}</ref> and perhaps [[tuberculosis]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Notman |first1=Derek N.H. |last2=Anderson |first2=Lawrence |last3=Beattie |first3=Owen B. |first4=Amy |last4=Roger |title=Arctic Paleoradiology: Portable Radiographic Examination of Two Frozen Sailors from the Franklin Expedition (1845–48) |journal=[[American Journal of Roentgenology]] |volume=149 |issue=2 |pages=347–350 |date=August 1987 |doi=10.2214/ajr.149.2.347 |pmid=3300222 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Toxicological reports indicated that [[lead poisoning]] was also a possible factor.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kowall |first1=Walter |last2=Beattie|first2=Owen B. |last3=Baadsgaard|first3=Halfdan |title=Did solder kill Franklin's men? |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=343|issue=6256|pages=319–320|date=25 January 1990|doi=10.1038/343319b0|bibcode=1990Natur.343..319K|s2cid=4348259 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kowall|first1=W.A.|last2=Krahn|first2=P.M.|last3=Beattie|first3=O.B.|title=Lead Levels in Human Tissues from the Franklin Forensic Project|journal=International Journal Environmental Analytical Chemistry|volume=35|issue=2|pages=119–126|date=1989|doi=10.1080/03067318908028385|bibcode=1989IJEAC..35..119K }}</ref>

In 1997, more than 140&nbsp;years after his report, Dr. Rae's account was finally vindicated; cut marks caused by blades were discovered on the bones of some of the crew found on King William Island, strongly suggesting that conditions had become so dire that some crew members resorted to cannibalism.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Keenleyside|first1=Anne|last2=Bertulli|first2=Margaret|last3=Fricke|first3=Henry C.|title=The Final Days of the Franklin Expedition: New Skeletal Evidence|journal=[[Arctic (journal)|Arctic]]|volume=50|issue=1|pages=36–46|date=March 1997|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf|doi=10.14430/arctic1089|access-date=27 February 2007|archive-date=9 October 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic50-1-36.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Sailors sucked the marrow out of their shipmates|last=Kennedy |first=Dominic |date= 29 July 2015|work=[[The Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/sailors-sucked-the-marrow-out-of-their-shipmates-nhs3flpjmq9}}</ref> Evidence suggestive of breakage and boiling of bones, characteristic of efforts to extract marrow, was subsequently identified.<ref name="Mays">{{cite journal|last1=Mays|first1=S|last2=Beattie|first2=O|title=Evidence for End-stage Cannibalism on Sir John Franklin's Last Expedition to the Arctic, 1845|journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology|date=4 August 2015|volume=26|issue=5|pages=778–786|doi=10.1002/oa.2479}}</ref> It appeared from these studies that a combination of bad weather, years locked in ice, poisoned food, [[botulism]], starvation, and disease, including scurvy, had killed everyone in the Franklin party. In October 2009, marine archaeologist Robert Grenier outlined recent discoveries of sheet metal and copper which have been recovered from 19th-century Inuit hunting sites. Grenier firmly believes these pieces of metal once belonged to the ''Terror'' and formed the protective plating of the ship's hull.

A quote from the British newspaper ''[[The Guardian]]'' states:
{{blockquote|After studying 19th-century Inuit oral testimony&nbsp;– which included eyewitness descriptions of starving, exhausted men staggering through the snow without condescending to ask local people how they survived in such a wilderness&nbsp;– [Grenier] believes the 19th-century official accounts that all the surviving expedition members abandoned their ice-locked ships are wrong. He believes both ships drifted southwards, with at least two crew remaining until the final destruction of their vessels. One broke up, but Inuit hunters arriving at their summer hunting grounds reported discovering another ship floating in fresh ice in a cove.

The ship, probably the ''Terror'', was very neat and orderly, but the Inuit descended into the darkness of the hull with their seal-oil lamps, where they found a tall dead man in an inner cabin. Grenier believes it was there they recovered the copper, which was more valuable than gold to them, and tools, including shears from the ship's workshop with which to work it. Hauntingly, they also reported that one of the masts was on fire. Grenier wonders if what they saw was the funnel from the galley still smoking from a meal cooked that morning before the last of Franklin's men disappeared from history.<ref name=GDN>{{cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Maev|title=Copper clue may solve mystery of doomed Victorian Arctic expedition |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=28 October 2009 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/oct/28/john-franklin-expedition-robert-grenier}}</ref>}}

== Legacy ==
[[File:John Franklin statue.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|"Discoverer of the North West Passage" – a disputed or exaggerated claim on [[Matthew Noble]]'s 1866 [[Statue of Sir John Franklin|statue of Franklin]], [[Waterloo Place]], London]]
A memorial to Franklin was set up almost immediately on the assumption of his death. This is in [[Westminster Abbey]] to a design of [[Matthew Noble]].<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.275</ref>

For years after the loss of the Franklin party, the media of the Victorian era portrayed Franklin as a hero who led his men in the quest for the [[Northwest Passage]]. A statue of Franklin in his home town bears the inscription: "Discoverer of the North West Passage". Statues of Franklin outside the [[Athenaeum Club, London|Athenaeum Club]] in London and in [[Tasmania]] bear similar inscriptions.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} There is also a memorial to him in the Chapel of St Michael at [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A.P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; 1882), p. 240.</ref>

Many geographic locales are named after Franklin, among them [[Franklin Island (Antarctica)|Franklin Island in Antarctica]], [[Franklin Island (Greenland)|Franklin Island in Greenland]], [[Franklin Strait]] in northern Canada, [[Franklin, Quebec]], [[Franklin Sound]] north of Tasmania, and the [[Franklin River]] and the town of [[Franklin, Tasmania|Franklin]] in Tasmania, as well as many streets and schools, including Sir John Franklin School, Calgary, AB. The Australian oceanographic research vessel {{RV|Franklin}} and the [[Canadian Coast Guard]] vessel {{CCGS|Sir John Franklin|2017|6}} both bear his name. The wintering site of Franklin's second Canadian expedition, in [[Délı̨nę]], [[Northwest Territories]], was designated a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site of Canada]] in 1996.<ref>{{CRHP|14385|Déline Fishery / Franklin's Fort National Historic Site of Canada|4 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{DFHD|1820|Déline Fishery / Franklin's Fort National Historic Site of Canada}}</ref> The explorer was also memorialised when one of Canada's Northwest Territories subdivisions was named the [[District of Franklin]]. [[Franklin's gull]] (Leucophaeus pipixcan) of North America was also named after him.

In 2009, a special service of Thanksgiving was held in the chapel at the [[Royal Naval College, Greenwich|Royal Naval College]] to accompany the rededication of the national monument to Sir John Franklin.<ref>{{cite web |title='Nelsons of Discovery': Notes on the Franklin Monument in Greenwich|url=http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/temp/HLJ_Franklin_Monument.pdf|first=Huw |last=Lewis-Jones|pages=77–105}}</ref> It was a celebration of the contributions made by the United Kingdom in the charting of [[northern Canada]], and honoured the loss of life in the pursuit of geographical discovery. The service also marked the 150th&nbsp;anniversary of [[Francis McClintock]]'s voyage aboard the yacht ''Fox'', and that expedition's return to London with news of the tragedy.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/6542_taissumanni_nov._20/|date=19 November 2009|first=Kenn|last=Harper|work=[[Nunatsiaq News]]|title=Taissumanni, Nov. 20: Re-dedication of the Franklin Monument|access-date=30 July 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306024425/http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/6542_taissumanni_nov._20/|archive-date=6 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://visionsnorth.blogspot.com/2009/11/night-of-polar-stars.html|title=A Night of Polar Stars
|first=Russell|last=Potter|website=Visions of the North|date=6 November 2009}}</ref>

Franklin's time in Tasmania was dramatised in the play ''[[Jane, My Love]]'' and its radio adaptation ''The Franklins of Hobart Town''.

=== Rediscovery ===
{{main|Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site}}
In September 2014, the wreck of {{HMS|Erebus|1826|6}} was rediscovered in [[Wilmot and Crampton Bay]] near the [[Adelaide Peninsula]],<ref name="BBC-29131757">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29131757 |title=Sir John Franklin: Fabled Arctic ship found |date=9 September 2014 |work=[[BBC Online]]}}</ref> and, in September 2016, the wreck of {{HMS|Terror|1813|6}} was discovered in [[Terror Bay]] on the south coast of [[King William Island]], in "pristine" condition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/hms-terror-wreck-found-arctic-nearly-170-years-northwest-passage-attempt|title=Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt |work=The Guardian|date=12 September 2016}}</ref> The wrecks were found many miles south of their last known location off the northwest coast of King William Island; archaeologists believe the ''Terror'' must have been crewed and sailed to its new location, as the anchor was used and it was sailed through a maze of islands and channels. The wrecks are designated as the [[Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site]], with the precise locations of the discoveries undisclosed.<ref>{{CRHP|18693|Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada|29 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{DFHD|334|Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada in which the statue was put up}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last1=Lamb|first1=G. F.|title=Franklin: Happy Voyager|url=https://archive.org/details/franklinhappyvoy0000lamb|url-access=registration|date=1956|publisher=Ernest Benn|location=London|oclc=250937261}}
* {{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Franklin, John (a) |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}
* {{cite book|last1=Traill|first1=H. D.|title=The Life of Sir John Franklin, R.N.|url=https://archive.org/details/lifesirjohnfran01traigoog|date=1896|publisher=John Murray|location=London|oclc=316480873}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite magazine|title=Franklin Saga Deaths: A Mystery Solved?|url=|magazine=National Geographic Magazine|volume=178|page=|pages=|doi=|pmid=|access-date=|number=3|last=|first=|date=September 1990}}
* Alexander, Alison (editor) (2005)''[[The Companion to Tasmanian History]]''. Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart. {{ISBN|186295223X|}}.
* Beardsley, Martyn. ''Deadly Wintre: The Life of Sir John Franklin''.
* Beattie, Owen, and Geiger, John (1989). ''Frozen in Time: Unlocking the Secrets of the Franklin Expedition''. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books. {{ISBN|088833303X|}}.
* Beattie, Owen and Geiger, John (2004). ''Frozen In Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition'' (Revised edition).
* [[Pierre Berton|Berton, Pierre]] ''The Arctic Grail''.
* Coleman, E. C. (2006). ''The Royal Navy in Polar Exploration, Franklin to Scott''.
* Cookman, Scott (2001). ''Ice Blink: The Tragic Fate of Sir John Franklin's Lost Polar Expedition'' {{ISBN|0471404209|}}.
* Hutchinson, Gillian (2009). "Searching for Franklin and the Northwest Passage" {{ISBN|9780948065842|}}.
* Davis, Richard C. (1995). "Sir John Franklin's Journals and Correspondence: The First Arctic Land Expedition, 1819–1822". The Champlain Society. {{ISBN|0969342543|}}.
* Davis, Richard C. (1998). "Sir John Franklin's Journals and Correspondence: The Second Arctic Land Expedition, 1825–1827". The Champlain Society. {{ISBN|0969342594|}}.
* Joel, C. R. (2011). ''A Tale of Ambition and Unrealised Hope: John Montagu and Sir John Franklin''. {{ISBN|9781921509827|}}.
* Owen Beatle and John Geiger (1992). "Buried in ice: The mystery of a lost arctic expedition" {{ISBN|0590438492|}}.
* Lambert, Andrew (2009). ''Franklin: Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation''. {{ISBN|9780571231607|}}.
* [[Ken McGoogan|McGoogan, Ken]] ''[[Fatal Passage]]'' and ''Lady Franklin's Revenge''.
* Mirsky, Jeannette (1970). ''To the Arctic!: The Story of Northern Exploration from Earliest Times''. {{ISBN|0226531791|}}.
* Murray, David. (2004). ''The Arctic Fox: Francis Leopold McClintock, Discoverer of the fate of Franklin''. Cork: The Collins Press, {{ISBN|1550025236|}}.
* Nadolny, Sten. (2005). ‘ ‘The Discovery of Slowness’. Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, {{ISBN|1589880242|}}.
* [[Nova (American TV program)|NOVA]]&nbsp;– Arctic Passage Part 1&nbsp;– Prisoners of the Ice (TV documentary). See also program [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3307_arctic.html transcript]
* Payton, Brian (2009). The Ice Passage {{ISBN|9780385665322|}}.
* Potter, Russell A. (2016). ''Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search.'' Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press {{ISBN|0773547843|}}.
* Poulsom, Neville W. & Myres, J. A. L. (2000). ''British polar exploration and research: a historical and medallic record with biographies, 1818–1999''. London: Savannah.
* {{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Records of Sir John Franklin (269 items from 1810-early 20th century) Ref D8760/F/FSJ|url=https://calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=calmview.catalog&id=D8760/F/FSJ|access-date=20 January 2021|website=Derbyshire Record Office}}
* Robson, L.L. (1983) ''A history of Tasmania. Volume 1. Van Diemen's Land from the earliest times to 1855''. Melbourne, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0195543645|}}
* Sutton, Ann, and Myron Sutton. Journey into Ice; John Franklin and the Northwest Passage,. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965
* [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson|Stefánsson, Vilhjálmur]] (1938). ''[https://www.fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20210256 Unsolved Mysteries of the Arctic]''.
* Woodman, David C. ''Unraveling the Franklin Mystery: Inuit Testimony''.
* [https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2023/aug/29/lost-photographs-doomed-arctic-explorers-auctioned-sir-john-franklin-erebus-terror-sothebys-in-pictures Fotos (Daguerreotypes)] of Franklin and some participants of his last expedition, taken in England days before their departure, in The Guardian, 15 June 2024, retrieved 15 June 2024
{{Refend}}

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