Francis Crozier: Difference between revisions

| image = FrancisCrozierFranciscrozierdagsothebys.jpg

| placeofburial = {{disappeared date and age|1848|4|26|1796|9|17|df=y}}<br />[[King William Island]], [[North-Western Territory]] (now [[Nunavut]], [[Canada]])

'''Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier''' {{postnom|country=GBR|FRS|FRAS}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|oʊ|ʒ|ər}}; 17 October 1796&nbsp;– disappeared 26 April 1848) was an Irish officer of the [[Royal Navy]] and polar explorer who participated in six expeditions to the [[Arctic]] and [[Antarctic]]. In May1843, 1845he became a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] for his scientific work during his expeditions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |title=Icebound In The Arctic: The Mystery of Captain Francis Crozier and the Franklin Expedition |date=2021 |publisher=The O'Brien Press |isbn=978-1-78849-265-2 |access-date=30 April 2024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgoPEAAAQBAJ}}</ref> Later, he was second-in-command to [[Sir John Franklin]] and captain of {{HMS|Terror|1813|6}} during the [[Franklin expedition]] to discover the [[Northwest Passage]], which ended with the loss of all 129 crewmen in mysterious circumstances.

In 1845, Crozier joined [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] [[Sir John Franklin]] as captain of the {{HMS|Terror|1813|2}} on the [[Franklin expedition]] to traverse the last unnavigated section of the [[Northwest Passage]]. Crozier himself was consideredoffered tothe leadcommand thisof the expedition, but, his humble birth counted against him. The privilege of selectingwith subordinating"characteristic officersmodesty", almosthe always givendeferred to theFranklin.<ref>{{Cite second-in-commandODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6840|title=Crozier, wasFrancis givenRawdon to [[James Fitzjames]].Moira}}</ref> After Franklin's death in June&nbsp;1847, heCrozier took command of the expedition, andover. hisHis fate and those of the other expedition members remained a mystery until 1859, when a note written by Crozier and [[James Fitzjames]], captain of the ''Erebus'', was discovered on [[King William Island]] during an expedition led by [[Francis McClintock]]. Dated 25 April 1848, the note indicated that the ships—stuck in thick pack ice—had been abandoned. Nine officers, including Sir John Franklin, and 15&nbsp;crewmen had died. Also stated was their intention, on 26&nbsp;April, to set out on foot for [[Back's Great Fish River]] on the Canadian mainland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Savours|first=A.|title=The Search for the North West Passage|url=https://archive.org/details/searchfornorth00savo_0|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=1999|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/searchfornorth00savo_0/page/291 291–293]|isbn=0312223722}}</ref>

Unverified [[Inuit]] reportsrumours collected between 1852 and 1858 indicate that Crozier and one other expedition member might have been seen in the [[Baker Lake, Nunavut|Baker Lake]] area, about {{convertcvt|400|km}} to the south, where, in 1948, [[Farley Mowat]] found "a very ancient cairn, not of normal Eskimo construction"," inside which were fragments of a hardwood box with [[dovetail joint]]s.<ref>{{cite book|author=Woodman, D. C.|date=1992|title=Unravelling the Franklin Mystery: Inuit Testimony|location=Montreal|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|page=317|isbn=0773509364}} Note: Woodman was unable to track down the origin of these Inuit reports, and the builder and origins of the cairn found by Mowat are unknown.</ref> McClintock and later searchers found relics, graves, and human remains of the Franklin crew on [[Beechey Island]], King William Island, and the northern coast of the Canadian mainland.

[[Category:Irish Antarctic explorers of Antarctica]]

[[Category:Irish Arctic explorers of the Arctic]]