The Royal Navy and Polar Exploration Vol 2

With the stunning victories of the war against Napoleon behind it, the Royal Navy looked for gainful employment for its, now much reduced, fleet and for the men who served it. With the eager support and encouragement of John Barrow, the Second Secretary to the Admiralty, it was decided that there could be no better deployment of ships, men and materials than in the search for the North West Passage, the fabled northern route to the Orient, and the attainment of the highest latitudes - both north and south. Indeed, why not reach out for the very Poles themselves?

The search for the North West Passage took many lives, not least the entire crews of Franklin's Erebus and Terror, and some of the men sent to find out what happened to the ill-fated expedition. Ernest Coleman's book tells the story of not just Franklin and his doomed expedition but also of the involvement of the Royal Navy in Polar exploration until Scott's Antarctic expedition of 1912.