570 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



land, he joined the ship of the line JJellerophon, and in 1805 

 took part in the battle of Trafalgar as signal midshipman. Of 

 the 40 persons who stood round him on the poop, only seven 

 escaped unhurt. He also served in a similar capacity in the war 

 of 1812-15 with the United States, and was promoted to the 

 command of a vessel which engaged our forces at New Orleans, 

 where he hoarded one of our small boats and captured her ; he 

 was slightly wounded, and for his gallant act was promoted to 

 Lieutenant. In the year 1818, the British government fitted out 

 an expedition to attempt a passage to India by crossing the Polar 

 sea north of Spitzbergen, in which Franklin was given command 

 of the Trent, one of the two vessels sent out. He was forced to 

 return after reaching latitude 80 on account of the injuries 

 received by his companion-vessel, the Dorothea. In 1819 he was 

 appointed to command an expedition which set out to travel 

 overland from Hudson's Bay to the Arctic Ocean, and make a 

 survey of the American coast. He returned to England and 

 shortly after was made post-captain and elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society. In 1823 he published, " Narrative of a Journey 

 to the Shores of the Polar Sea in 1819-22," and in August of 

 the same year married Eleanor Porden. In 1825 he was appointed 

 to the command of another expedition to the Arctic Ocean. On 

 the day assigned for his departure his wife was lying at the point 

 of death ; she begged him not to delay on her account, and gave 

 him a small silk flag which she requested him to hoist when he 

 should reach the polar sea. She died the day he sailed. He 

 returned home in September, 1827, and in March following mar- 

 ried Jane Griffin, who was afterward the celebrated Lady Frank- 

 lin. In the same year he published his " Narrative of a Second 

 Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea 1825-27," and in 

 the following year was knighted and received the degree of Doctor 

 of Civil Law from Oxford University, and the gold medal from 

 the Geographical Society of Paris. In 1836 Franklin was made 

 governor of Van Dieman's Land, in which office he continued 

 until 1843, when the Colonial Legislature voted an increase in the 

 governor's salary ; Sir John refused to accept it, but secured it for 



