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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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John Franklin
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(1786–1847, kt 1829) Arctic explorer, credited with the discovery of the *northwest passage. He had led two land-based expeditions to map the extremely complex north coast of Canada (1819–22, 1825–7) before being given command of an expedition in 1845 to search for the elusive passage itself. He sailed on May 18 with 129 men in two ships, the Erebus and Terror, which had previously been used by James Clark *Ross. They were last seen entering Lancaster Sound on July 26. From 1847 some 40 expeditions were sent out to look for traces of them (adding vastly to the knowledge of the region) but it was not till 1859 that some remains were found. With them was a document revealing that Franklin had died, in 1847, in the knowledge that only a few miles of ice now separated him from waters already charted from the west.
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