Sir John Franklin and the Artic Regions: Travellers, Explorers & Pioneers

On May 18, 1845 Sir John Franklin set sail with a crew of 134 men on two ships, HMS "Terror" and HMS "Erebus, " in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage. The ships were last seen on July 26th by an Arctic whaler off the entrance to Lancaster Sound and from there they vanished, never to be seen again. A series of rescue expeditions discovered that disaster had overtaken the expedition and none of the crew made it out of the Arctic region alive. "Sir John Franklin and the Arctic Regions, "written6 years after his disappearance, but before the final fate of him and his crew had been determined, sheds light on Arctic exploration in the 19th century and Franklin s successful earlier expeditions in particular, as well as providing a gripping account of the growing unease as nothing further is heard from them. By using letters and logs from the actual expeditions sent to discover the fate of the doomed voyage, Simmonds vividly brings to life the dangers explorers faced in the hostile conditions of the Arctic and the drive and courage of the men who were determined to expose its secrets."