| Description |
A pair of snow goggles from the 1845 British Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The goggles are roughly made of leather with a circle of wire gauze to screen each eye, protecting them from snow blindness. They were possibly made on board one of the ships. They would have been tied on (part of the string remains).
The snow goggles were found at the boat site in Erebus Bay by Captain F. L. McClintock's sledge team on 30 May 1859, as part of the search expedition led by McClintock The site had been visited and partially investigated by Lt. William Hobson on 24 May but his report does not list everything he saw or removed. McClintock records ’two pairs of goggles, made of stout leather and wire gauze, instead of glass'. [McClintock, Voyage of the Fox (1859), page 366].
The goggles were displayed at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, Case 2, No. 43 & 61 'Snow goggles'. The item is shown in - 'Stereoscopic slides of the relics of Sir John Franklin's Expedition' photographed by Lieutenant Cheyne RN, at the United Services Museum, Whitehall, No. 6 (top, right below the sailmaker's palm). |
