1852/54, the Sir John Franklin Search Expeditions, balloon-dropped message, on paper, printed on the H.M.S. "Assistance", double-sided, on
1852/54, the Sir John Franklin Search Expeditions, balloon-dropped message, on paper, printed on the H.M.S. "Assistance", double-sided, on front reading "Provisions left in H.M.S. North Star at Beechey Island. / Provisions, House and Steam Launch, at Port Leopold. / Spring Parties searching by Sledges, in the direction of / Jones's Sound and along the North Shore of Melville Island. / H.M.S. Resolute and Steam Tender at Bridport Inlet, Melville / Island. H.M.S. Investigator, found by Resolute at Bank's Land. / Smith's, Whale, and Jones's Sound, have been examined by / Commander Inglefield, in the Screw Steamer Isabel. but no / traces found. Letters from England by her. / W.W. May Lieut. & Commanding Officer. / [H.Briant, Printer H.M.S. Assistance.], and on reverse 'Despatched by a Balloon, from H.M.S. Assistance, / Captain Sir Edward Belcher. / In Winter Quarters Lat 76,51 0 N Long 97.0.0. W. / To Sir John Franklin, June 23, 1853.' Trivial light discoloration, otherwise remarkably fresh. An exceptional rarity. Sir John Franklin had set off to discover the Northwest Passage in May 1845 and vanished into the unknown. Several relief expeditions were despatched in the hope of establishing the fate of the explorers, one method adopted being the message-carrying balloon. Vanessa Histon, in “Publishing and Printing On Board Ship” (Dec. 1985) writes: "oiled silk balloons were filled with hydrogen (made by pouring sulphuric acid onto zinc filings) and to them were attached slow matches, about five feet long. Pieces of coloured paper and silk on which were printed details of the searchers’ position and intended routes, were attached to the matches with thread. As the balloon sailed along and the match burned, the papers were detached, and it was hoped that their bright colours against the whiteness of the snow would attract the attention of any survivor’s of Franklin’s party.” The searches proved fruitless. Franklin had died in June 1847, and the surviving members of the expedition abandoned their ice-locked ships in April 1848, perishing during the overland march that followed. It was later established from the position of their remains that some of the men had traversed the final undiscovered link of the Northwest Passage, achieving the object of their voyage.
