FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN, an Eng lish navigator, born in Spilsby, Lincoln shire, April 16, 1786; when only a boy he went to sea, and later entered the Eng lish navy. In 1806 he was present at the battle of Trafalgar, and in 1814 at that of New Orleans, and in 1819 was appointed to head an overland expedition from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Ocean. After suffering many hardships, he reached home in 1822. In the following year he married a Miss Purden, the daughter of an architect. In 1825 he submitted to Lord Bathurst a plan "for an expedition overland to the mouth of the Mackenzie river, and thence by sea to the N. W. extremity of America, with the combined object also of surveying the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers." This proposition was accepted, and six days after he left Liverpool. In the same year, his wife died. In 1827 Captain Franklin arrived at Liverpool, where he was married a second time, and in 1820 had the honor of knighthood conferred upon him. In 1845, Sir John set out on a third expedi tion with two ships, called the "Erebus" and "Terror," and spent his first winter in a cove between Cape Riley and Beechey island. After that period many expeditions were dispatched, both from England and America, in search of Sir John, of whom there were no tidings, and not till 1854 did the intelligence reach England that the brave navigator and his heroic companions had, in all prob ability, perished in the winter of 1850 1851. This intelligence, however, wanted
confirmation and Lady Franklin, resolved to have the mystery cleared up. Accord ingly, a last expedition was fitted out, and the news was, in 1859, at length con firmed by the return of Captain McClin tock, in the yacht "Fox," after a per severing search for the lost adventurers. This officer brought with him indisput able proofs of the death of Sir John and the loss of his crew. Several articles belonging to the unfortunate explorers were found at Ross Cairn and Point Victory. At the latter place a record was discovered, wherein it was stated that Sir John Franklin had died June 11, 1847. C. F. Hall, the eminent Arctic ex plorer, returned in September, 1869, from a 5-years' search for the remains of Sir John Franklin's companions with more relics of the expedition. Lieutenant Schwatka found the bodies of the Frank lin party in his expedition of 1879-1880.