Rae–Richardson Arctic Expedition

The Rae–Richardson Polar Expedition of 1848 was an early British effort to determine the fate of the lost Franklin Polar Expedition. Led overland by Sir John Richardson and John Rae, the team explored the accessible areas along Franklin's proposed route near the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers. Although no direct contact with Franklin's forces was achieved, Rae later interviewed the Inuit of the region and obtained credible accounts that the desperate remnants of Franklin's team had resorted to cannibalism. This revelation was so unpopular that Rae was effectively shunned by the British Admiralty and popular opinion, and the search for Franklin continued for several years.

As early as 1847, it was believed that Franklin's forces were likely icebound. The British Admiralty devised a three-pronged rescue effort to address the three most likely escape routes for Franklin – Lancaster Sound, the Mackenzie River (to the settlement of the Hudson's Bay Company fur traders), and Beering's Straits. Sir John Richardson, who had participated in earlier Arctic expeditions with Franklin himself, took the objective of the Mackenzie River, tracing the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, as well as the shores of Victoria Island and the Wollaston Peninsula, then known as Victoria Land and Wollaston Lands, in an overland expedition.

Assuming the existence of an unknown but likely passage between these lands, it would have been the most direct route of travel consistent with Franklin's original exploration orders. John Rae of the Hudson's Bay Company was attached to this effort. Rae had 15 years of experience in the region and regarded the indigenous people with uncommon respect. It was planned that the expedition would extend their search by wintering in the area of Great Bear Lake.

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