Sir John Franklin | |
|---|---|
 1828 portrait by Thomas Phillips | |
| Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land | |
| In office 5 January 1837 – 21 August 1843 | |
| Secretary | John Montagu |
| Preceded by | Sir George Arthur |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Eardley-Wilmot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 April 1786 Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | 11 June 1847 (aged 61) King William Island, North-Western Territory |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Eleanor Isabella Franklin |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
| Military service | |
| Branch |  Royal Navy |
| Service years | 1800–1847 |
| Rank | Rear admiral |
| Wars | |
| Expeditions | |
Sir John Franklin KCH FRS FLS FRGS (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 Canadian Arctic and through the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, during the Coppermine expedition of 1819 and the Mackenzie River expedition of 1825, and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1837 to 1843. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later, and the entire crew died from causes such as starvation, hypothermia, and scurvy.