

FRANKLIN, REAR-ADMIRAL Silt JOHN. 



FRA.NZ&N, FRANS-MICHAEL. 



not neglect*! of acquiring much valuable knowledge. Beside* auuud 

 practical seamanship h learned the more theon-tical an.l difficult 

 branches of nautical surveying, and wai always on* of the midshipmen 

 elected to attend the CapUin whenever be mad exouniona in 

 boat*, or visited the chore for scientific purpose*. After tome time 

 the Investigator being unfit for further eerrice, the offioen were 

 ordered home in the 1'orpoiae. lu this ihip he was wrecked on a 

 ooral reef off the Australian coast, and with 94 person* spent nearly 

 two month* on a narrow sandbank only a few feet above the sea-level, 

 whilt Captain Hinder* proceeded to Tort Jack-on for relief. 



Having fortunately escaped tho fate of hi* chief, who on bin voyage 

 houie was unjustly detained as a prisoner in Mauritius, Fraukliu pro- 

 ceeded to Canton with Captain Fowler, who had charge of the Porpoise, 

 and embarked on board the Earl Camden, commanded by Sir Nathaniel 

 Dance, for the purpose of returning to England. This ship aud other 

 Indiamen were attacked by the French admiral, Liuois, in the Straits 

 of Malacca, but Sir Nathaniel Dance gallantly defeated hi* antagonist. 

 During the engagement Franklin acted as signal midshipman, aud was 

 of considerable service in other ways. 



Shortly after his arrival in England he was appointed to the 

 Belleropbon, Captain Laing, and had the charge on board that ship 

 of the signals during the memorable battle of Trafalgar. It is recorded 

 that he performed thu important duty with singular coolness and 

 iity, although many of his brother officers were shot around 

 him. Indeed, out of forty companion*, only seven, of whom he was 

 one, came out of the battle unscathed. He now served for two years 

 with the Channel fleet and Itochefurt squadron, and then joined the 

 Bedford, in which ship be wa present at tbe blockade of Flushing oil' 

 the coast of Portugal, on the Brazil station, aud at the attack of New 

 Orleans in 1814. Here be greatly distinguished iiruself in a tun-boat 

 action, in the epune of which lie received a slight wound. Fur his gallant 

 conduct on tbU occasion he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. 



Peace having been e*tablihe.l, the attention of Government was 

 turned to Arctic discovery, which had been interrupted during the 

 long war, and in 1818 commenced the brilliant and remarkable series 

 of Arctic expeditions with which Franklin's name is so honourably 

 associated. The scientific knowledge he had acquired when serving 

 under Captain Flinders was now of great benefit to him, and Sir 

 Joseph Beaks, who at that time presided over the Royal Society and 

 who took great interest in Arctic matters, recommended him to the 

 Admiralty a* a proper officer to be employed in Arctic exploration. 

 Accordingly Franklin commenced his Arctic career by commanding 

 the Trent, which ship, with the Dorothea, commanded by Captain 

 Buchan, formed an expedition appointed to sail from Spitzbergen 

 across the supposed Polar Sea. 



Unhappily the Dorothea in lat. 80 34' N. became disabled, but 

 Lieutenant Franklin, with a gallant disregard of danger, earnestly 

 reqursted to be allowed to proceed alone in tbe execution of the 

 service. The nature of Captain Buchan's instructions prevented 

 thin, and the ships returned to England. 



Franklin's conduct and aptitude for the peculiar service of Arctic 

 enterprise brought him into prominent notice, and he was intrusted 

 in 1819 with the command of his first overland expedition for the 

 purp<*e of tracing the coast-line of the North American continent, 

 at that time very imperfectly known. Descending tbe Coppermine 

 tbe party surveyed a large portion of the coast cast of the mouth of 

 that river, during which they underwent frightful privations and 

 trials, the history of which, ag told in Franklin's own manly and 

 unaffected language, is undoubtedly one of the noblest pictures of 

 heroic exertion and patient endurance ever presented for our admira- 

 tion. The results of the labours of Franklin and of bis distinguished 

 associate' Sir John Richardson, in this memorable journey, deserve 

 more full and fitting recognition than can be attempted on this occa- 

 sion : tlii party travelled 6550 mile*, mostly over ground previously 

 unknown, and large acquisitions were gained for science by tho careful 

 study of tbe physical geography and natural productions of the 

 North American continent. 



For his service* on this occasion ho was promoted to the rank of 

 captain, having while absent risen from lieutenant to commander. In 

 1823 he was elected a Fellow of tho Royal Society, and served on 

 the council of that body. 



Undeterred by the appalling suffering* he had already undergone, 

 Franklin, although lately united in marriage to the youngest daughter 

 of William Pordcn, Esq., again volunteered hia services for Arctic 

 exploration. These wore accepted, and in 1826 he left England on 

 hi* second land exploration. Descending the Mackenzie River, he 

 traced the North American coat from the mouth of the Coppermine 

 Riv.-r to the 1 60th meridian. For these fresh services he received 

 th honour of knighthood, and had the degree of D.C.L. conferred on 

 him by the University of Oxford. He also received the Oold Medal 

 from the French I ieo^raphical Society, and was elected a Corresponding 

 Member ut the Institute of France. 



Sir John Franklin now remained at home two years, when he was 

 appointed to the Rainbow, and served in that ship in the Mediter- 

 ranean for three year*, lie was chiefly employed in the Greek waters, 

 and )>a<l the good fortune to be of considerable service in the delicate 

 adjustment of complicated diplomatic relations. It is worthy of 

 remark, as illustrative of the amiability of Franklin'* character, that 



the sailors who thin served under him named the ship the ' Celestial 

 Rainbow' and ' Franklin's Paradise.' During this period, a* indeed on 

 all other occasion*, he eagerly availed himself of every opport 

 not only to improve his knowledge of geology, to which science he 

 was greatly attached, but also used every exertion to add to the 

 museum of the Geological Society, aud to the private collections of 

 scientific men. 



After a brief period of rest which followed hi* service* in the 

 Mediterranean, he applied to Lord Glenelg for employment umU-i- ilia 

 Colonial department, and hit lordship in a very complimentary 

 manner offered him the important post of Governor of Von Diemeu' 

 Laud, which he held for seven year*. During thin time that colony 

 received convicts, New South Wales having ceased to be a penal 

 settlement. This rendered Sir John Franklin's position most onerous 

 and trying, but be acquitted himself so entirely to the satisfaction of 

 the colonists, that in grateful remembrance of his government, which 

 was marked by tho establishment of a college and a philosophical 

 society, they, unsolicited, subscribed 16002. towards tho expenses of a 

 private expedition fitted out for his rescue. 



It might be supposed that, after so long a period of laborious 

 services, Sir John Franklin would have desired repose, particularly as 

 he had now attained high renown ; but his wishes still pointed 

 towards active employment, and consequently, when the Arctic expe- 

 dition was contemplated, which has cost him his life, he was willing 

 to take the command, when the Admiralty were of opinion that ho 

 was tbe officer best fitted to act as chief. That expedition wu- 

 imte.il by the lute Sir John Barrow, secretory to the Admiralty, who 

 submitted a plan for the discovery of the North-West Passage to 

 government, which, after having been referred to the council of tho 

 Royal Society, was adopted. 



The expedition, consisting of the Erebus and Terror, which had 

 recently returned from a voyage of discovery in the Antarctic sea, 

 left England in May 1845. Unhappily its history and fata ore still 

 veiled in obscurity : this however we know, that everything was done 

 to render it efficient; that the officers under Sir John Franklin u. n- 

 men of experience and seal, and that tho last accounts received from 

 them represent their commander animated by all the ardour and spirit 

 which characterised hi* early Arctic exertions. 



It would have been unjust to have expected leas from such a man, 

 and as bis instructions contained the usual discretionary power given 

 in these documents, there is too much reason to fear that he fell 

 victim to hia during attempts to achieve success. It will ever be n 

 matter of regret, though it cannot be of surprise, that the discovery 

 of traces of the Erebus and Terror at the entrance of Wellington 

 Channel caused the search for our countrymen to bo directed prin- 

 cipally to the north and west of Harrow's Straits; because, although 

 the information brought home by Dr. Roe in 1854, to the etfect that 

 Esquimaux had seen the bodies of forty white men in the spring of 

 1850 on what is supposed to be Montreal Island, at the mouth of the 

 Fish River, cannot be regarded as trustworthy ; yet the relics of tho 

 expedition procured by Mr. Anderson and Dr. It-ie suffice to prove that 

 Franklin's ships must have been beset within on area comprised witliin 

 the 70th and 7'Jud parallels of latitude and tbe 97th aud 100th 

 meridians. 



This fact leads to the conclusion, which no biographer of Franklin 

 can overlook, that although government has rewarded Sir Robert 

 M'Clure for discovering a North- West Passage, another passage, and 

 tho only navigable one, was previously discovered by Sir John Franklin. 

 This is the opinion of Sir Francis Beaufort, the lute eminent hydro- 

 grapber, and of his successor, Captain Washington, aud also of Frank- 

 lin's old associate in Arctic adventure, Sir John Richardson, and other 

 well-known Arctic voyager*. Thus should the efforts prove unmiOMs)*- 

 ful, which will assuredly be made by Lady Franklin, if not by govern- 

 ment, to ascertain the precise fate of Sir Johu Franklin and hU com- 

 panion', sufficient is known to warrant the addition to Franklin'x 

 many high qualities and titles of renown on the monument which is 

 about to be erected to his memory in Lincoln that of hi* having 

 been tbe first discoverer of a North- West Passage. 



FRAN/K.V, FKANS-M1CHAEL, an eminent modern Swedish poet 

 and prosaist, was born on the 9th of February 1772 at Uleaborg, in 

 Finland, at that time a province of the Swedish crown. Finland, 

 both before and since it* compulsory union with Russia, has been 

 fruitful of poet* to Sweden, though possessed of a language of its 

 own of an entirely different character, Ruuebrrg, at present the head 

 of Swedish poetical literature, is a Finn, and the first effort of 

 Frauzcn that attracted attention was hi* poetical eulogy on Creuta, 

 also a Finn, who combined the ununial characters of a poet and a 

 diplomatist, and parsed much of his life a* ambassador at Paris. The 

 ' At is and Camilla ' of Creutz had intro luci-d an ease and elegance, 

 before unknown, into Swedish poetry, and the eulogy on its author by 

 Franzcn produced a commotion in the literary world of Stockholm, 

 by the originality and vigour of its tone, which was in strong contrast 

 to that of the school of Leopold, then dominant, who was an ingenious 

 imitator of French models. The eulogy obtained, in spite of it* 

 originality, the great prize of the Swedish Academy. This was in 

 1794, at which time, and for nine years previous, Frau/.rn had been a 

 student at the Finnish university of Abo. In the following year he 

 set out on a tour to Denmark, Germany, Franco and Kngland, and 



