Franklin Expedition: final formal record deposited on King William Island

Background. The Franklin Expedition, led by Captain Sir John Franklin, departed England in 1845 to traverse the Northwest Passage. The ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, became trapped in ice off King William Island in September 1846 and are thought never to have sailed again. After Franklin died on 11 June 1847, Captain Francis Crozier became the expedition leader. By 1848 the crew had abandoned the vessels.

The Victory Point Note. The final formal record, known as the Victory Point Note, was dated 25 April 1848. It was signed by Fitzjames and Crozier. The note stated that the crew had wintered off King William Island in 1846–47 and 1847–48. It recorded Franklin's death on 11 June 1847 and the abandonment of the ships. The survivors planned to walk over the island and across the sea ice towards the Back River on the Canadian mainland.

Deposit and Discovery. The note's history involved two deposits. A first document had been deposited by the late Commander Gore in May–June 1847 in a cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross. In 1848, after the abandonment of the ships and recovery of that document, Fitzjames added a second message signed by himself and Crozier and deposited the note in the cairn found by Hobson eleven years later. The original landing party included Lieutenant Graham Gore and Mate Charles Frederick Des Voeux, though Fitzjames likely filled in the documents on board the ships.