The Voyage of the 'Fox' in the Arctic Seas: In Search of Franklin and His Companions

In 1845, Sir John Franklin set off from England to locate and chart the elusive Northwest Passage. He and his crew of 129 men never returned.

Over the following decade, forty expeditions were launched in an effort to determine the fate of the missing men. Eventually, traces of their demise were discovered along the western shore of King William Island. In a last attempt to find the bodies, Franklins wife, Lady Jane, sponsored an expedition to be led by Captain Francis Leopold McClintock. He and a crew of twenty-five set off in 1857 on the steam yacht 'Fox.' On this quest, the always-adventurous McClintock became the first European to navigate through Bellot Strait. While the 'Fox' was frozen into the ice in winter, he and his men made long and arduous exploratory journeys by dogsled. When they finally reached King William Island, they discovered a cairn at Victory Point and a note from Franklin's expedition.

Now republished as part of the Classics West series with a new foreword by Shelagh D. Grant, The Voyage of the 'Fox' in the Arctic Seas is Sir Francis McClintock's own thrilling account of the ship's journey into the Arctic, and the discovery of the fate of Sir John Franklin and his companions.