Hartnell, Papers

• MS 1486;D Papers relating to Able Seaman John Hartnell of [These papers are mostly official documents (certificates, indentures, will, etc.) relating to his parents Sarah and Thomas and his younger brother Charles, but they include the following relating to John Hartnell, and also his brother Thomas, also a seaman in HMS Erebus Letters from the Admiralty relating to the deaths of John and Thomas, letters to John and Thomas from their mother and younger brother dated 1847, John Hartnell's indenture as an apprentice] 23 leaves, hand-written and printed (Xerox)

In 1845 Sir John Franklin sailed north in command of the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition. Sent by the Admiralty the two ships HMS Erebus (Franklin) and HMS Terror (Francis Crozier) were to search for a passage via Lancaster Sound. With provisions designed to last three years the expedition sailed north in May 1845. Whalers in Baffin Bay were the last Europeans to see the two ships in July of 1845.

Chronological

The Institute holds extensive archival collections containing material relating to the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin) and the subsequent search expeditions sent to the Arctic