Portraits of Doomed Arctic Explorers Go to Auction in London

London, 27 Aug (ONA) --- An original portrait photograph of a famous Arctic explorer, taken shortly before the doomed Franklin expedition, will be auctioned in London next month (September 2023).

Capt Francis Crozier and 13 other senior officers were photographed in May of 1845.

The complete set of 14 portraits will be auctioned by Sotheby's, BBC news reported.

Two images in the set, including Capt Crozier's, are missing from the only other original collection of these portraits known to exist.

Sir John Franklin's expedition to find a Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic became one of the best-known maritime mysteries of all time after the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror disappeared without a trace in the summer of 1845.

At the request of Sir John's wife Jane, Lady Franklin, at least two sets of 14 daguerreotypes, or early photographs, were taken on board HMS Erebus in the days before the ships' departure. The portraits were made by the Beard Studio, founded by pioneering photographer Richard Beard.

One of the sets is currently held by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge, but it lacks images of Capt Crozier, commander of HMS Terror, and Robert Sargent, a mate on HMS Erebus. To date, historians have only had access to copies of these two men's daguerreotypes.

Franklin researchers had long speculated as to whether the second, complete, set of original daguerreotypes survived.

The 14 portraits that have now emerged for auction were owned by Franklin's descendants.

The sale is estimated to fetch between £150,000 and £200,000.

All of the daguerreotypes will be exhibited in public together, for the first time ever, at Sotheby's this September.

--- Ends/Khalid