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Franklin expedition departs for the Northwest Passage

When
1845
Where
Greenhithe, Kent; Baffin Bay, with Lancaster Sound as the intended crossing target; Davis Strait appears only in the legacy row
Episodes
2

Sir John Franklin led HMS Erebus and HMS Terror from Greenhithe in May 1845 to navigate the Northwest Passage. The ships were last reliably sighted by whalers in late July 1845 in Baffin Bay, near Lancaster Sound, before disappearing into the Arctic ice.

Episodes

  1. 19 May 1845 · Greenhithe, KentDeparture from Greenhithe

    HMS Erebus and HMS Terror sailed from Greenhithe, Kent, on 19 May 1845, carrying 134 crew members for the Northwest Passage expedition.

  2. Late July 1845 · Baffin Bay, with Lancaster Sound as the intended crossing target; Davis Strait appears only in the legacy rowLast Sighting in Baffin Bay

    Whalers encountered the ships in late July 1845 in Baffin Bay, where they were waiting to cross to Lancaster Sound.

Background and detail

Background. Franklin received command of the expedition in February 1845. The mission aimed to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage and record magnetic data. The ships, Erebus and Terror, had previously served in Antarctic expeditions. Franklin's official instructions were issued in May, shortly before the departure from Greenhithe.

Departure. The expedition departed Greenhithe, Kent, on the morning of 19 May 1845. The crew consisted of 24 officers and 110 men. Franklin commanded the expedition, with Francis Crozier serving as executive officer and commander of HMS Terror. The ships were provisioned by Stephen Goldner, who received the contract in April 1845.

Last Sighting. Whalers Prince of Wales and Enterprise encountered the ships in late July 1845. The ships were seen in Baffin Bay, waiting for conditions to cross to Lancaster Sound. This encounter represents the last reliable sighting of the expedition by Europeans before their disappearance into the Arctic.

People involved

Sources

  1. Franklin's lost expedition Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
  2. John Franklin Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
  3. HMS Erebus (1826) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-03-16

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.