| Description |
A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-8. A pair of snow goggles found in an abandoned boat at Erebus Bay, King William Island, in May 1859 by the McClintock Search Expedition 1857-9. They are roughly made from leather with the eyes screened with wire gauze and were possibly made on board ship. They would have been tied on (part of the string remains). McClintock's party reached this site on the 30 May and discovered that Hobson had been there a few days before on the 18th. The boat was 28 foot long and mounted on a heavy sledge. McClintock found it just above high tide mark pointing back in the direction of the ships and containing a large quantity of abandoned personal possessions and two skeletons. F. L. McClintock 'The voyage of the Fox in the Arctic seas' p.366 'two pairs of goggles, made of stout leather and wire gauze, instead of glass'. It is shown on - 'Stereoscopic slides of the relics of Sir John Franklin's Expedition' photographed by Lieut. Cheyne RN at the United Services Museum, Whitehall, No. 6. Formerly exhibited at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, Franklin Room, case 2 number 43 and 61. |
