McClure Arctic Expedition

The McClure Arctic Expedition of 1850, among numerous British search efforts to determine the fate of the Franklin's lost expedition, is distinguished as the voyage during which Robert McClure became the first person to confirm and transit the Northwest Passage by a combination of sea travel and sledging. McClure and his crew spent three years locked in the pack ice aboard HMS Investigator before abandoning it and making their escape across the ice. Rescued by HMS Resolute, which was itself later lost to the ice, McClure returned to England in 1854, where he was knighted and rewarded for completing the passage.

Lady Jane Franklin pressed the search for the Franklin Expedition, missing since 1847, into a national priority. McClure had served as first lieutenant of HMS Enterprise under James Clark Ross in 1848, which returned in 1849 without discovering a trace of the lost explorer. Faced with a continuing lack of progress, the British Admiralty on 15 January 1850 ordered a new expedition to "obtain intelligence, and to render assistance to Sir John Franklin and his companions, and not for the purposes of geographical or scientific research," although a completion of the proposed Northwest Passage from the opposite direction would not be without merit.

Two ships were assigned to this task. The Enterprise was returned to the search under Captain Richard Collinson, and the Investigator under Commander Robert J. McClure in his first Arctic command. Extensive repairs were required for both ships, which had already weathered Arctic service, including the installation of a modern Sylvester's Heating Apparatus. The Investigator, her figurehead representing a walrus, had been fitted with a 10-horsepower locomotive engine and strengthened extensively in 1848.

Preserved meat was secured from Gamble of Cork, Ireland, and although some spoilage was experienced, it had no major impact on the voyage (subsequently discovered to be the case with Franklin).

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