![]() Scene depicting travel by canoe on Franklin's second expedition, from a trading card issued c. At the Admiralty, Sir John Barrow was sufficiently impressed that he recommended Franklin for a further command, and his career as Arctic explorer was launched. Despite its limited success, the expedition was celebrated in the press, and depicted in an enormous Panoramic painting by Henry Aston Barker at his establishment in Leicester Square in London. For Franklin, it was his first taste of Arctic adventure, and the fascination was to prove a life-long one. Buchan and Franklin's ships, unfortunately, met with heavy, gale-driven sea ice just north of the Spitzbergen Islands, and after making emergency repairs were forced to head home. The most optimistic of those who saw them off was Second Secretary of the Admiralty Sir John Barrow who, influenced in part by whaler William Scoreseby's reports of unusually large areas of open water and melting ice the year before, believed that this was an ideal time to search for the long-sought (but ultimately chimerical) Open Polar Sea. Their mission was to forge a direct way north beyond Henry Hudson's old record of 80 degrees of latitude. In 1815, he was at the Battle of New Orleans.įranklin and Buchan at Spitzbergen, from Henry Aston Barker's Panorama of Spitzbergen, 1819-20įranklin first travelled to the Arctic in 1818, as a lieutenant under the command of David Buchan, aboard the ships Dorothea and Trent. Following that expedition, he returned to the Napoleonic Wars, serving aboard HMS Bellerophon at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Following this he went on an expedition to explore the coast of Australia on the HMS Investigator with his uncle, Captain Matthew Flinders. Franklin was later present at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. This hardened young Franklin's resolve, so at the age of 14, his father secured a Royal Navy appointment on HMS Polyphemus. Reluctantly, his father allowed him to go on a trial voyage with a merchant ship. ![]() ![]() One of his sisters became the mother of Emily Tennyson (wife of the Lord Tennyson).Īlthough his father initially opposed him, Franklin was determined to have a career at sea. He was the ninth of 12 children of a family which had prospered in trade. Is never in the way of anybody, and always ready when wanted but I can find no remarkable point in his character, except, perhaps, that he is obstinate.Franklin was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1786 and educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth. Good humored in his own way writes, reads, works, draws, all quietly. "A little black haired, smooth faced fellow. In his letters, Fitzjames described Couch as such: When the face was reconstructed, he bared a resemblance to Erebus mate Edward Couch, though it isn't certain wether he is or isn't Couch. In the fall of 2018, a skeleton from the Franklin expedition was located in a place in Erebus Bay called Two Grave Bay. Two months later, when McClintock made the famous discovery of "the boat place", among the things that were found in the boat was a set of dessert silverware (fork and spoon) that belonged to Couch. In March of 1859, Sir Francis McClintock was given a spoon that belonged to Couch. In the spring of 1845, Couch signed up for the Franklin Expedition as a mate on the HMS Erebus. After the war, Couch served on the HMS St. Later, Couch took part in the heavy street fighting in Zhenjiang against the Chinese. During the battle of Zhenjiang, Couch was placed in charge of two ships boats and after landing on the beach, he and several other men were wounded and had to abandon the artillery they were carrying and hide before being rescued. In 1842, Couch served in China during the First Opium War. In 1841, Couch served on the HMS Queen, but didn't see much action. ![]() When he was 14, in 1838, Couch was serving on the HMS Excellent, where he met James Fitzjames. Edward Couch was born in Camberwell in 1823.
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