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North-West Passage: An Arctic Obsession

23 May 2009 – 3 January 2010

Free admission

Fig. 34: 'Captain Sir James Clark Ross, 1800–62', John R. Wildman (BHC2981)
© NMM London The fabled North-West Passage, the sea route linking the North Atlantic with the north Pacific Ocean, was sought by explorers for centuries as a lucrative short-cut for trade between Europe and the East. In 1845 Sir John Franklin set out on a scientific expedition of unprecedented scale, in vessels equipped with the latest technological innovations. The voyage was to become one of the greatest disasters of Arctic exploration. Both ships and their entire crews vanished, and it was eventually discovered that all 129 men died of starvation, exposure and sickness.

Attempts to find Franklin and his missing men and ships, began in 1848 and for more than ten years some 40 expeditions – official and private, British and international – took up the search. The fate of Franklin and the course of the Passage were finally discovered in 1859, though it was not until 1903-06 that Roald Amundsen managed to sail through it.

A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-8. A pocket chronometer number 980 found in an abandoned boat at Erebus Bay, King William Island, in May 1859 by the McClintock Search Expedition 1857-9. The centuries-old British endeavour to find this ‘passage round the pole’ is revealed on 23 May when the National Maritime Museum (NMM) opens North-West Passage: An Arctic Obsession. The exhibition reveals the motivation of the numerous attempts by British explorers to cross the Arctic, and why the eyes of the world are turning to the region again today.

The exhibition looks at some of the extraordinary stories, feats of endurance and tragedies that surround famous attempts by Sir John Ross, Sir James Clarke Ross, Sir William Parry and Sir John Franklin. Key artefacts in the exhibition, including letters and relics recovered from Franklin’s doomed voyage of 1845, provide a glimpse into the survival strategies used by 19th-century explorers to combat the Arctic’s harsh climate.

First Communication with the Natives of Prince Regents Bay, as Drawn by John Sackheouse, and Presented to Capt Ross, Augt 10 1818. Isabella and Alexandra Over 120 objects – paintings, letters, maps, ethnographic items – from the Museum’s extensive polar collection highlight early British attempts to explore and map the Arctic. They include drawings which record early encounters with the Inuit, from John Ross’s 1829-33 expedition. Also on display is the flagstaff which Sir James Clark Ross erected to mark his discovery of the North Magnetic Pole in 1831, one of the many scientific achievements of British explorers.

The exhibition also highlights the complexities and environmental concerns surrounding modern exploitation of the region’s rich natural resources. Such attempts are not new: samples from the large quantity of ‘fool’s gold’, brought back by Sir Martin Frobisher’s north-western voyages of the 1570s will be on display. It was believed to be so valuable that Elizabeth I ordered quadruple locks for the worthless cache in the Tower of London.

The harsh realities of climate change and its impact on the Arctic are also brought home by a film documenting Inuit observations of the depleting levels of sea ice, and changes to the region’s wildlife. Interviews from the Catlin Arctic Survey, a pioneering expedition to measure the sea ice thickness and predict the consequences of diminishing ice coverage, will also be shown.

Notes to editors:

• The National Maritime Museum - the largest and most important museum of its kind in the world - is housed in impressively modernized historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. It incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, (home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian Line) and 17th-century Queen’s House The Museum works to illustrate for everyone the importance of the sea, ships, time and the stars and their relationship with people. Visit www.nmm.ac.uk for further information.

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For further information or images please contact:  Sheryl Twigg or Nigel Rubenstein
National Maritime Museum Press Office Tel: 020 8312 6790 | 6732| 07903 547 284
Email: press@nmm.ac.uk

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General admission to National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House and Royal Observatory Greenwich is free.

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