The ''Fox'' was an 1854

steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...

commanded by

Leopold McClintock Sir Francis Leopold McClintock (8 July 1819 – 17 November 1907) was an Irish explorer in the British Royal Navy, known for his discoveries in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. He confirmed explorer John Rae (explorer), John Rae's controv ...

on a privately funded 1857–1859 expedition to the North American

Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

to search for clues about the fate of

Franklin's lost expedition Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England in 1845 aboard two ships, and , and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest ...

History

Early service

''Fox'' was a built as a yacht for Sir Richard Sutton, 2nd Baronet at a cost of about £5000. The ship's hull was diagonally planked with Scotch

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

on the inside and East India

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

on the outside, and the two-cylinder auxiliary steam engine of 16 n.h.p. gave a speed of about seven knots. ''Fox'' had made just one cruise to Norway before Sutton's death. After a period of use in the Baltic during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, the vessel was laid up in a partly dismantled state at the builders' yards. The executors of Sutton's will sold the ship for £2000 to Lady

Jane Franklin Jane, Lady Franklin (née Griffin; 4 December 1791 – 18 July 1875) was a British explorer, seasoned traveller and the second wife of the English explorer Sir John Franklin. During her husband's period as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's L ...

, for use in attempting to find her husband, Sir

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Northern Canada, Canadia ...

, and his expedition.

Expedition of 1857–1859

Land-based expeditions in 1854 and 1855 under John Rae and James Anderson had discovered relics from the missing expedition north of Back River, south-west of the

Boothia Peninsula Boothia Peninsula (; formerly ''Boothia Felix'', Inuktitut ''Kingngailap Nunanga'') is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of ...

. Lady Franklin had previously sent three expeditions to search this area, but all had failed to reach it. She purchased ''Fox'' in April 1857, after finally accepting advice that the 159-ton auxiliary schooner ''Isabel'' that she had owned since 1852 was too small for the job, and the government had denied her requests to use . Sailing Master Allen Young donated £500 towards the subscriptions raised for the expedition. ''Fox''s second-in-command was Lieutenant William Hobson. ''Fox'' left Aberdeen on 1 July 1857, and managed to pass through the

Bellot Strait Bellot Strait is a strait in Nunavut that separates Somerset Island to its north from the Murchison Promontory of Boothia Peninsula to its south, which is the northernmost part of the mainland of the Americas. The and strait connects the Gul ...

briefly before finding a secure winter anchorage to the east of the Strait off the Boothia Peninsula. Over the next two years extensive expeditions were made by sled to the west of the Boothia Peninsula. On 6 May 1859, Hobson discovered the only written messages from the missing expedition ever found, in cairns on

King William Island King William Island (, ; previously: King William Land) is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the list of islands by area, 61st-largest island in the world ...

. The overland parties returned to the ship, which then left for Plymouth, arriving on 20 September. Three of the ship's crew died during the expedition: the engineer from natural causes, his assistant by a shipboard accident, and the steward from

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

Later service

Still under Allen Young's command, ''Fox'' was engaged in survey work between the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

in conjunction with laying a North Atlantic telegraph cable in 1860–1861, before being sold to the Danish Royal Greenland Company. By the late 1880s, ''Fox'' was owned by Akties Kryolith Mine-og Handels Selskabet of Copenhagen, and was refitted with a 17 nhp compound steam engine made by

Burmeister & Wain Burmeister & Wain was a large established Danish shipyard and leading diesel engine producer headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded by two Danes and an Englishman, its earliest roots stretch back to 1846. Over its 150-year history, it g ...

. After a long and useful career, ''Fox'' was wrecked on the coast of Greenland in 1912.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Francis Leopold McClintock, ''The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas: A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions'', John Murray, London, 1859. * Francis Leopold McClintock, Die Reise der Fox im Arktischen Eismeer. Ein Bericht von der Expedition zur Aufklärung des Schicksals von Sir John Franklin und seiner Gefährten (1857–1859), ed. E. Berkenbusch, St. C. Saar, Wiesbaden 2010 * Roderic Owen, ''The Fate of Franklin: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Most Heroic of Arctic Explorers'', Hutchinson Group (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Richmond South, Victoria, 1978. * hristian FrederikTheodor Zeilau, ''Fox-Expeditionen i Aaret 1860 over Færøerne, Island og Grønland, med Oplysninger om Muligheden af et nordatlantisk Telegraf-Anlæg'', Fr. Wøldikes Forlagsboghandel, Copenhagen, 1861. * ''The Times'' newspaper (London), 16 April 1857, 16 May 1857, 3 June 1857, 6 August 1912. * ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London'', 11 February 1861 (RGS, London). * ''Lloyd's Register of Shipping'', 1900 edn. * Carl Petersen, "Den sidste Franklin-expedition med "Fox", Capt. M'Clintock", Fr. Wøldikes Forlagsboghandel, Copenhagen, 1860. {{Authority control 1854 ships Arctic exploration vessels Auxiliary steamers Exploration ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1912 Ships built in Aberdeen Shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean Steam yachts