John Franklin (1786-1847), British naval officer and Arctic explorer who was knighted in 1829. Early expeditions included the Coppermine Expedition to northern Canada (1819-1822, shown here). His final expedition was in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage. Many expeditions were mounted to find him and his crew, but it was not until 1859 that the ship's remains and a record of the expedition were found. It is thought the crew abandoned the ship when it became trapped in ice, and they died trying to reach safety. This artwork by George Robert Lewis (1782-1871) was the frontispiece to 'Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea' (1823).