FRANKLIN, SIR John, English navigator: b. Spilsby, Lincolnshire, 16 April 1786; d. Lancaster Sound, 11 Tune 1847. 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, in 1814 at that of New Orleans, and in 1819 was appointed to head an over land expedition from Hudson Bay to the Arctic Ocean. After suffering many hardships and being frequently on the verge of death from hunger and fatigue, he reached home in 1822. In the following year he married a Miss Pur den (died 1825), the daughter of an architect, and the author of several poetical effusions. 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 northwest extremity of America, with the com bined object also of surveying the coast be tween 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 married as his second wife, Miss Griffen. In 1829 the honor of knighthood was conferred upon him. He com manded the Rainbow frigate in the Mediter ranean 1830-33; and was lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen's Land 1837-43. In 1845 Sir John set out on a third expedition with two ships, called the Erebus and Terror, and his ships were last seen by a Scottish whaler on 26th July of that year. He spent his first winter in a cove between Cape Riley and Beechey Island. After that period many ex peditions 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 navigator and his companions had, in all probability, perished in the winter of 1850-51. This in telligence, however, wanted confirmation, and Lady Franklin, who deserves all praise for the intelligent persistency of her efforts, resolved to have the mystery cleared up. Accordingly
a last expedition was fitted out, and the news was, in 1859, at length confirmed by the re turn of Captain McClintock, in the yacht Fox, after a persevering search for the lost adven turers. This officer brought with him indis putable 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 11 June 1847. Other traces were found on the west coast of King William's Island, as the various survivors of the expedition had strayed from each other, perhaps in search of food, or the means of escaping from their dreary and desolate situations. C. F. Hall, the emi nent Arctic explorer, returned in September 1869 from a five-years' search for the remains of Sir John Franklin's companions, and brought back about 150 relics of the expedition, pur chased from the natives of King William's Land. It remained, however, for Lieutenant Schwatka to find the bodies of the Franklin party in his expedition of 1879-80. Franklin was the author of 'Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the Years 1819-22' (1823) ; 'Narrative of a Second Ex pedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea in 1825-27' (1828). Consult McClintock, 'Nar rative of the Fate of Sir John Franklin' (1860) ; Osborn, 'Career, Last Voyage and Fate of Sir John Franklin' (1860) ; Beesly, 'Sir John Franklin' (1881) • Markham, 'Life of Sir John Franklin and the Northwest Pas sage' (1891) • Traill, 'Life of Sir John Franklin' (1896).