eng:Main Page

This web is mainly in the Czech language. It is a strange Slavic language, spoken in the Czech Republic. :-)

There are many other websites concerning the last Franklin expedition in English. You can find links to a lot of them below .

There is also online map of the Franklin expedition created by the author of this website. Very rarely I publish texts in English on Blogspot.

Any comments, questions and suggestions in English (or Czech, of course) are welcomed at info@franklinova-expedice.cz. Bug reports (dysfunctional links, grammar mistakes, etc.), and proposals for new links are especially appreciated.

Useful links

Here you can start your learning about Franklin's lost expedition... :-)

Maps

• Franklin expedition Relics
  Andrés Paredes.
  A detailed Google map of the remains of the Franklin expedition.
• Map of the Countries Round the North Pole
  Edward Stanford.
  Interactive viewer of a map by London cartographer Edward Stanford from around 1896.
• Map of the Franklin expedition
  Radek Svítil, Gustav Vávra.
  Map of routes, relics and memorials of the Franklin expedition and related Artic expeditions.
• Polar Expeditions
  Andrés Paredes.
  Google map.
• Polar Museums, Memorials, Statues, Graves and Houses of Polar Explorers
  Andrés Paredes.
  Google map.
• Polar People
  Andrés Paredes.
  Google map of the population of the polar regions.
• The Arctic Graveyard
  Andrés Paredes.
  Google map of deaths during Arctic expeditions and graves of polar explorers.
• The Names of the Arctic
  Andrés Paredes.
  Google map of Arctic geographical names.
• Chart Showing the Vicinity of King William Island with the Various Positions in which Relics of the Arctic Expedition Under Sir John Franklin Have Been Found
  Rupert Thomas Gould. The Mysteries of the Franklin Expedition (Canadian Mysteries), 27.05.1927
  

Documents

• Copies of Instructions Addressed to Captain Sir John Franklin, R.N., in reference to the Arctic Expedition of 1845
  Google Books
  Scanned text of the Instructions.
• Instructions Addressed to Captain Sir John Franklin (5 May 1845)
  Canadian Mysteries
  Slightly abbreviated text of the Instructions.
• James Fitzjames: Last will and testament 1845
  Fabiënne Tetteroo. jamesfitzjames.com
  An annotated transcript of the will including images of parts of the original document.
• Muster Book of the HMS Enterprize
  Arctonauts
  List of crew members of HMS Enterprise during Ross's search for the Franklin expedition (1848-49).
• Muster Book of the HMS Erebus (1845)
  Arctonauts
  Source: “Erebus. M. (3/Mar to 30/Jun/1845)” ADM 38/672, The National Archives. Related Expedition: the lost Franklin Expedition (1845-54). Editor and Transcriber: Edmund Wuyts.
• Muster Book of the HMS Investigator (Argonauts)
  Arctonauts
  List of crew members of HMS Investigator during Ross's search for the Franklin expedition (1848-49).
• Muster Book of the HMS Terror (1845)
  Arctonauts
  Source: “Terror. M. (3/Mar to 30/Jun/1845)” ADM 38/1962, The National Archives. Related Expedition: the lost Franklin Expedition (1845-54). Editor and Transcriber: Edmund Wuyts.
• Muster Rolls of H.M.SS. "Erebus" and "Terror"
  Richard J. Cyriax, Russell Potter.
  From Richard J. Cyriax, Sir John Franklin's Last Arctic Expedition. Collated with the original rolls.
• Service Record (jamesfitzjames.com)
  Fabiënne Tetteroo. jamesfitzjames.com
  Original and transcription of a self-completed questionnaire by James Fitzjames, used as the basis for O'Byrne's biographical dictionary of officers of the British Royal Navy.
• The Beechey Papers
  Logan Zachary. illuminator dot blog
  High-resolution photos of non-newsprint fragments of papers left at Beechey Island by the Franklin expedition. Photographed in late 2019.
• The Last Will and Testament of Francis R. M. Crozier
  Arctonauts
  
• Will of James Fitzjames, Commander in the Royal Navy
  James Fitzjames.
  Scanned version in The National Archives (United Kingdom].
• Arctic expeditions. Return to an address of the Honourable the House of Commons, dated 10 May 1850; - for, copies of instructions from the Admiralty to Captain Austin, R.N., C.B., and to any other officers, in Her Majesty's Service engaged in Arctic expeditions, since the date of the last Parliamentary return
  , 10.05.1850
  Instructions from the British Admiralty to the captains of ships searching for the Franklin expedition, issued in 1850. On the Toronto Public Library server.
• Preserved meats (Navy) : return to an order of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 5 February 1852; - for, Returns "showing the date and terms of all contracts for preserved meat for the use of Her Majesty's Navy with Goldner; also the quantities issued since the commencement of the above contracts; specifying the quantities fit for use, as well as the quantities either condemned or returned into store as unfit or use, from any of Her Majesty's stores or ships, whether at home or abroad... "And the contract prices of beef and pork for the years 1848, 1849, 1850, and 1851."
  , 13.02.1852
  British Admiralty documents relating to orders for tinned meat from Goldner, a businessman, for use by the Royal Navy in connection with an investigation into the supply of spoiled tinned meat.
• Artic Matters (Fitzjames' letters) (1/2)
  James Fitzjames. The Nautical Magazine, March 1852, 1.03.1852
  Letters of James Fitzjames addressed to his sister-in-law Elizabeth Coningham from the voyage of HMS Erebus from England to Greenland. They were published in the Nautical Magazine without the names of the author and addressee.
• Artic Matters (Fitzjames' letters) (2/2)
  James Fitzjames. The Nautical Magazine, April 1852, 1.04.1852
  Letters of James Fitzjames addressed to his sister-in-law Elizabeth Coningham from the voyage of HMS Erebus from England to Greenland. In the second part the Nautical Magazine already lists the author as "Capt. Fitz James" (sic), the addressee remains anonymous.
• Two Franklin Documents
  The Beaver, September 1947, 1.09.1947
  Letter from John Rae to Chief Factor John Ballenden of Fort Garry, in which Rae summarises the knowledge of the fate of the Franklin expedition obtained during his search in 1853-4, and a reproduction of an 1847 poster offering a reward for information about the lost Franklin expedition.
• The Journal of Sergeant William K. Cunningham, R.M. of HMS Terror (PDF, Part 1)
  William K. Cunningham, Richard Campbell. The Journal of the Hakluyt Society (April 2009), 1.04.2009
  The first part of journal of Quartermaster Sergeant William Cunningham, who sailed in the HMS Terror on the expedition of James Clark Ross to the Antarctic in 1839-43.
• The Journal of Sergeant William K. Cunningham, R.M. of HMS Terror (PDF, Part 2)
  William K. Cunningham, Richard Campbell. The Journal of the Hakluyt Society (April 2009), 1.04.2009
  The second part of journal of Quartermaster Sergeant William Cunningham, who sailed in the Terror on the expedition of James Clark Ross to the Antarctic in 1839-43.
• The Journal of Sergeant William K. Cunningham, R.M. of HMS Terror (PDF, Part 3)
  William K. Cunningham, Richard Campbell. The Journal of the Hakluyt Society (April 2009), 1.04.2009
  The third part of journal of Quartermaster Sergeant William Cunningham, who sailed in the Terror on the expedition of James Clark Ross to the Antarctic in 1839-43.
• A Most Inhospitable Coast: The Report of Lieutenant William Hobson's 1859 Search for the Franklin Expedition on King William Island
  Douglas R. Stenton. Arctic, Vol. 67, No. 4 (DECEMBER 2014), pp. 511-522 (12 pages), 1.12.2014
  This article provides a transcript of a never published report by Lieutenant William Hobson, describing his sledge journey (as part of the McClintock Expedition) along the west coast of King William's Island , during which he discovered the remains and reports of the Franklin's expedition.
• Anonymous (Officer of the Expedition), 11/Jul/1845
  Arctonauts, 9.11.2022
  This letter is dated 11/Jul/1845 at Whale Fish Islands in Greenland, shortly before the Baretto Junior transport had to sail back to England. The author is one of the principal officers of the expedition, though he has not yet been identified for sure. The letter was taken from The Greenock Advertiser, 15/Aug/1845.

Blogs

• 70 North Beset
  S. L. Shreve.
  Author is a freelance writer, researcher, and archivist and this blog is his outlet for speculating, theorizing, and writing about the fate of Franklin and his crews for speculating, theorizing, and writing about the fate of Franklin and his crews.
• Aglooka - Long Strider
  David C. Woodman.
  A website by David C. Woodman, a Canadian historian, who analyses Inuit accounts of the fate of the Arctic exploration expeditions. He is the author of two books on the Franklin expedition.
• All well (Polar notes by Allegra Rosenberg)
  A blog of an American researcher on the Franklin expedition, Sir Clements Markham, and other polar topics.
• Building HMS Terror
  Matthew Bets.
  "Building Terror", blog of a modeller building a 1:48 scale model of HMS Terror. The author is a Canadian archaeologist, author of "HMS Terror" book.
• Captain of Terror
  Regina Koellner.
  
• Erebus & Terror Files
  Peter Carney.
  Occasional series of "rambling notes" (as author says) documenting author's thoughts and original research relating to the 1845 Franklin Expedition.
• Finger-Post
  Alison Freebairn.
  Full title: There stood no friendly finger-post to guide us... The author is an independent researcher from Scotland who is based in Geneva, Switzerland. Her interests include Robert Anstruther Goodsir, the 1849-1859 searches for the Franklin Expedition, and Victorian graveyards.
• Franklin's Ghost
  Ted Betts.
  
• Franklin's Lost Expedition
  Informational blog about the Canadian search for Franklin's lost ship in the Arctic in 2012.
• Hidden Tracks Archive
  The full collection of all the writings from various blogs by late William Battersby.
• illuminator dot blog
  Logan Zachary.
  The blog of the American researcher contains, among other things, a number of unique photographs.
• In Search of Franklin
  Ron Carlson.
  Blog of an American searcher of the Franklin's expedition relics
• jamesfitzjamesdotcom
  Fabiënne Tetteroo.
  Blog of the author of website jamesfitzjames.com on Tumblr.
• Kabloonas
  Andrés Paredes.
  Blog in English by a Spanish author, dedicated to Arctic expeditions, especially to the John Franklin expedition.
• Lauren Triola Writes
  Lauren Triola.
  A blog dedicated to researching the life of John Torrington, a member of the Franklin Expedition buried on Beechey Island.
• Sir John Franklin's Lost Expedition (Starvation Cove)
  Chris.
  
• Stars over Ice
  Jaeschylus.
  
• The Franklin Trail
  John MacDonald.
  Information about the Franklin expedition and several search expeditions from 1993-98. Not updated for a long time.
• the thousandth part
  "Thoughts and findings about the life and times of Captain Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, R.N., often (predictably) associated with HMS Terror of the Franklin Expedition."
• Visions of the North
  Russell Potter.
  Blog mainly about the John Franklin's expedition. The author is Professor of English at Rhode Island College. He speciality is the history of polar exploration, with a focus on the the lost 1845 Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin.
• Wall Bay
  Blog looking into the history of Richard Wall, ship’s cook on HMS Erebus during Sir John Franklin’s tragic 1845 expedition.

Selected scientific papers

Thematic websites

• Arctic Archipelago
  Peter Landry.
  An online publication describing Franklin's life, the exploration of the Canadian Arctic, and the search for the Franklin Expedition.
• Arctonauts
  Edmund Wuyts.
  Arctonauts tries to make sources about polar exploration more accessible, by providing access to older published ones and slowly attempting to digitalize others. Currently focused on the Franklin Expedition and its crew, eventually we hope broaden our view to more of the 19th century.
• James Fitzjames – In memory of the man, the myth, the legend
  Fabiënne Tetteroo.
  A comprehensive site on the life of James Fitzjames, commander of HMS Erebus on Franklin's last expedition.
• James Fitzjames: The Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition (archive.org)
  William Battersby.
  Website for the book of the same name by William Battersby. Archived version, originally at www.jamesfitzjames.net.
• The Cold Boys Fandom Hub
  Dedicated to The Terror (TV serial by AMC). It states to be a central resource for fans of The Terror.
• The Fate of Franklin
  Russell Potter.
  A Multimedia Museum of the Cultural Histories of Arctic Exploration.
• The Last Voyage of Sir John Franklin
  Google Arts and Culture
  A virtual exhibition of images and documents about the Franklin expedition.
• The Mysteries of the Franklin Expedition
  This site contains information drawn from historical records preserved in museums, archives and government records, as well as books, journal articles, and other materials.
• Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site
  Parks Canada
  Official page of the Erebus and Terror wrecks as "National Historic Site".

Encyclopedias

• A Naval Biographical Dictionary (1849)
  William Richard O'Byrne.
  List of living (as of 1849) officers of the Royal Navy from lieutenant to higher.
• AMC's The Terror Wiki
  Encyclopedia documenting AMC's anthological series, The Terror.
• Franklin Expedition Wiki
  A collaborative community website about the Franklin Expedition.

Lists of sources

• A list of Franklin sources, or, what kind of a fandom inspires people to create a bibliography, for God’s sake?
  Karin L. Kross. Hanging Fire
  A list of resources on the Franklin expedition and The Terror series. Primary sources, blogs and fanworks, interviews, articles and books.
• Franklin Expedition Resources (The Cold Boys Fandom Hub)
  The Cold Boys Fandom Hub
  

New articles by RSS

Visions of the North

On the finding of James Fitzjames

26. 09. 2024 21:54:00

New details on the career of Stephen Samuel Stanley

01. 08. 2024 20:35:00

The Mystery of Catherine Tozer

04. 02. 2024 22:07:00

Parks Canada 2023 finds

25. 01. 2024 01:08:00

Repost: Christmas in the Frozen Regions

25. 12. 2023 11:00:00

Finger-Post

The C, the C, the Whitby C

01. 09. 2024 14:06:48

Richard J. Cyriax and his Franklin graves photography

18. 02. 2024 18:03:13

William Lego and the lost boys of Erebus and Terror

03. 12. 2023 10:00:05

Searching for Henry Foster Collins

10. 09. 2023 13:47:49

Carl Petersen: the Fox, the Prince, and the pension

23. 04. 2023 16:11:31

jamesfitzjamesdotcom

James Fitzjames in his letter to John Barrow jr. 10th July 1845

20. 11. 2024 05:54:44

As today is apparently Singles’ Day, I thought about Fitzjames saying that he doesn’t have a…

11. 11. 2024 12:00:23

Fitzjames/John Barrow historical fic just dropped on A03. Polar Explorer RPF! Based on lots of…

31. 10. 2024 16:20:08

look i don’t mean to be rude but if the fic isn’t historical guy x television counterpart then what…

30. 10. 2024 10:49:24

Started this while waiting at the bus stop….I tried lmao. You can probably tell the colors were the…

19. 10. 2024 06:48:33

the thousandth part

The Problem with Preconceived Notions, or Captain Crozier’s Adventures in Secondary Sources

03. 03. 2024 19:39:00

The Big Picture: Daguerreotypes and Derivatives from the Richard Beard Studio’s Portraits of the Officers of the Franklin Expedition

06. 10. 2023 20:13:00

On Horrid Radicals and Indifferent Spellers

26. 05. 2023 15:24:00

The Croziers of Banbridge

18. 03. 2023 11:30:00

Heavy Sailing: Three Lives of a Story

17. 12. 2022 16:30:00

The Arctic Book Review

Mark Kalluak’s Traditional Stories from Arviat

27. 09. 2024 01:39:00

The Ministry of Time

18. 05. 2024 16:51:00

An Inuk Hero

18. 01. 2024 20:53:00

Passage: A Novel

11. 01. 2024 17:09:00

Tracking the Franklin Expedition

20. 10. 2023 20:55:00

Kabloonas

BURNING SHIPS IN THE COLD - THE LOSS OF THE RODGERS

21. 11. 2022 16:44:00

UNDER THE POLAR STAR, A ROMANTIC MELODRAMA

11. 05. 2022 12:01:00

VICTORY POINT CAIRN: THE SILENT WITNESS

05. 01. 2022 10:34:00

WILLIAM KENEDY SEARCHING EXPEDITION

28. 12. 2021 22:59:00

THE THREE LOST MEN FROM McCLINTOCK EXPEDITION

22. 12. 2021 22:51:00

Arctonauts

Muster Book of HMS Investigator (1848)

16. 04. 2024 09:21:58

Muster Book of HMS Enterprize (1848)

16. 04. 2024 09:20:36

Muster Book of HMS Trent (1818)

16. 04. 2024 09:10:39

Muster Book of HMS Isabella (1818)

16. 04. 2024 09:08:43

Muster Book of HMS Dorothea (1818)

16. 04. 2024 09:07:10

All well

The South Polar Times: Deleted Scenes

23. 05. 2024 14:20:13

“I have been dreaming of you” — Antarctic Lovebirds Redux

18. 11. 2023 05:54:40

“Antarctic Lovebirds” – the untold story of Harry Pennell & Edward Atkinson

24. 01. 2023 02:39:36

The Donors of the Fox

07. 12. 2022 21:44:08

G. Julian Harney & the 1857 Franklin Search

14. 07. 2022 22:22:15

Erebus & Terror Files

Stephan Goldner and the Billion Dollar Corporation

23. 11. 2022 15:20:00

May we be Spared: Four talks in eight days.

09. 11. 2022 12:51:00

May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth - The voyage begins!

07. 09. 2022 12:15:00

Three visits to 137 Houndsditch

06. 12. 2020 20:23:00

The other "137 Houndsditch" - Stephan Goldner's Factory revealed.

24. 11. 2020 18:47:00

Lauren Triola Writes

New Story Published!

01. 11. 2024 21:39:25

Cold Boys and Cannibalism

25. 09. 2024 20:05:24

40 Years Ago Today: August 19, 1984

19. 08. 2024 12:30:00

40 Years Ago Today: August 18, 1984

18. 08. 2024 12:30:00

40 Years Ago Today: August 17, 1984

17. 08. 2024 12:30:00

In Search of Franklin

NEW BOOK

14. 05. 2023 13:42:00

Boat Place - Episode 1

16. 11. 2019 16:00:00

Arctic Expeditions - The Doomed Franklin Mission of 1845

17. 01. 2019 17:59:00

2012 Expedition to King William Island

29. 07. 2012 03:27:00

The Arctic Mirage

09. 07. 2012 01:51:00

Building HMS Terror

A MAN-HAULED BOAT SLEDGE FROM HMS TERROR

07. 01. 2019 22:41:00

BUILDING “THE TERROR”

10. 05. 2018 22:25:00

BUILD YOUR OWN HMS TERROR!

22. 04. 2018 00:11:00

THE GREAT PLANKING OF 2017 (Part 2)

03. 01. 2018 21:59:00

THE GREAT PLANKING OF 2017 (Part 1)

19. 11. 2017 13:04:00

Captain of Terror

"Death in the Ice" - my good-bye to the exhibition

26. 09. 2019 20:36:00

Edward Parry and the birth of the Arctic Thespian

13. 10. 2017 21:59:00

Death in the ice

07. 08. 2017 18:23:00

Finding of HMS Terror confirmed

26. 09. 2016 19:23:00

Intro

14. 09. 2016 16:17:00

70 North Beset

Maps, Chains, and Cairns: The Historical Accuracy of AMC’s The Terror

03. 12. 2018 19:10:19

The Victory Point Medicine Chest, Part II: Clues and further mysteries

30. 09. 2018 17:48:25

The Victory Point Medicine Chest

17. 09. 2018 21:45:22

Setting sail: An introduction

13. 09. 2018 21:02:32

Starvation Cove

Accounting For The 105 Survivors

13. 01. 2018 17:45:00

How Many Boats Did Franklin's Men Take?

16. 12. 2017 18:00:00

Supunger's Victory Point Grave and Tomb

25. 10. 2017 17:22:00

Franklin Expedition Links

09. 03. 2015 20:00:00

The Utjulik Ship (HMS Erebus)

27. 08. 2012 16:43:00

Franklin's Ghost

Russell Potter and John Geiger

13. 09. 2016 20:34:00

Mysterious Inuit tale leads researchers to the 168-year-old wreck of the HMS Terror

13. 09. 2016 13:59:00

My interview on News Talk 770 about the finding of HMS Terror

12. 09. 2016 21:28:00

HMS Terror Found!

12. 09. 2016 21:17:00

HMS Erebus!

01. 10. 2014 18:53:00

Franklinova expedice

Wiki o Franklinově expedici na Nový rok v novém hávu

01. 01. 2022 19:40:00

Tipy na mapy a blogy

16. 08. 2020 15:14:00

Nová verze mapy Franklinovy expedice k testování

21. 02. 2020 23:15:00

„Death in the ice“ – franklinovská výstava v Greenwichi

03. 07. 2018 16:22:00

Letošní sraz zájemců o Franklinovu expedici

17. 02. 2018 12:20:00