Francis Leopold Mcclintock – författare

Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (1819-1907) established his reputation as an Arctic explorer on voyages with Ross and Belcher, undertaking long and dangerous sledge journeys charting the territory. McClintock's account of his 1857-9 expedition on the yacht Fox through the North-West Passage to discover the fate of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and his ships, the Erebus and Terror, was first published in 1859. The journey was commissioned by Franklin's widow who, unhappy with the Admiralty's reluctance to seek confirmation of the account of her husband's expedition brought back in 1854 by explorer John Rae, commissioned McClintock to seek corroborating evidence. After a punishing voyage, including 250 days beset by ice in Baffin Bay drifting some 1,400 miles, the search continued by sledge. It was William Hobson, McClintock's second-in-command who found the written evidence documenting Franklin's death in 1847. The grim remains of others who had perished were also discovered.

The North-West Passage had thwarted the attempts of many expeditions by the mid nineteenth century, but none were so famous as the disappearance of Sir John Franklin and his crew. After two years with no word, a £20,000 reward was offered to anyone who could find the expedition, leading to many rescue missions. One such attempt was made by Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (1819–1907), who in 1859 succeeded in discovering the only written record left by Franklin''s expedition. “In the Arctic Seas” recounts McClintock incredible Arctic excision and his death-defying endeavours to uncover what really happened to Franklin and his ill-fated crew. An incredible account of survival against all odds in the unforgiving Arctic highly recommended for those with an interest in the famous Franklin expedition and Arctic exploration in general. Read & Co. History is republishing this classic memoir now in a brand new edition complete with an introductory biography by John Knox Laughton.