It was in 1818 that the young lieutenant first set sail for the Polar Sea, as second commander of the Trent, under Captain Buchan.  The aim was to cross between Spitzbergen and Greenland; but the companion vessel, the Dorothea, being greatly injured by the ice, the two had to return to England, after reaching the eightieth degree of latitude.

A year later lieutenants Franklin and Parry were placed at the head of expeditions, the latter to carry on the exploration through Baffin’s Bay, and to find an outlet, if possible, by Lancaster Sound.  This was splendidly done, and the North-west Passage practically discovered.  The task of Franklin was more arduous.  He had to traverse the vast solitary wastes of North-eastern America, with their rivers and lakes, to descend to the mouth of the Coppermine River, and to survey the coast eastward.  The toil and hardship of this wonderful expedition, and the brave endurance of Franklin and his friend Richardson, and their trusty helpers, have often been related.  They had to contend with famine and illness, with the ignorance and treachery of the Indians, who murdered three of the party.  The land journey altogether extended over 5,500 miles, occupying a year and six months.

In less than two years after their return to England, Franklin, Richardson, and Back volunteered for another expedition to the same region.

In 1825 this second expedition started, Franklin mournfully leaving the death-bed of his wife, to whom he had been married after his last return to England.  This brave lady not only let him go, though she knew she was dying, but begged him not to delay one day for her!  At New York Franklin heard of her death, but manfully concealed his grief, and pressed on to the northern wastes.  As before, his object was to survey the northern shore, only this time by the Mackenzie River, instead of the Coppermine.

This expedition, too, was full of, stirring adventure among the Esquimaux, though without the terrible hardships and calamities of the former journey.  It was also crowned with great success, leaving in the end only 150 miles of the coast from Baffin’s Bay to Behring Straits unsurveyed.  These, too, were explored in later years by Franklin’s successors, and the great discovery of the North-west Passage completed.

Franklin was now made commander; in 1829 was knighted, and covered with honors by the University of Oxford and the great learned societies in England and France.  He had married his second wife in 1828—­the Lady Franklin of the later story.  In 1832 Sir John Franklin was given the command of the Rainbow, on the Mediterranean station; and so wise and gracious was his rule, that the sailors nicknamed the sloop “The Celestial Rainbow” and “Franklin’s Paradise.”  But we have no space to speak of this now, nor of Franklin’s wise and gracious government of Van Diemen’s Land, now better known as Tasmania, that succeeded.  Lady Franklin was here his wise and devoted helper in every scheme of usefulness and benevolence.