Chart illustrative of the cruise of the American arctic expedition in search of Sir John Franklin In the years 1850 & 51

• Main Author: Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873
• Other Authors: Grinnell, Henry, 1799-1874; Welsh, George P., -1860; Maury, Matthew Fontaine, 1806-1873; De Haven, Edwin Jesse, 1816-1865
• Format: Still Image
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC : United States Hydrographical Office 1851
• Subjects: Franklin; John; > 1786-1847 > Travel > Arctic Ocean > Maps; John Franklin Arctic Expedition (1845-1851); Search and rescue operations > Arctic Ocean > Maps; Northwest Passage > Discovery and exploration > British > Maps; Arctic Ocean > Discovery and exploration > British; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Northwest Passage; Northwest passage
• Online Access: http://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/cdm/ref/collection/kis0001/id/3946

Taken from title: "fitted out by Henry Grinnell Esq. of New York, commanded by E.J. De Haven, Lieut. U.S. Navy : / compiled by Geo. P. Welsh, U.S.N. under the direction of M.F. Maury". "Rare separately published US Hydrographical Office chart reporting the details of the First American Expedition to search for Sir John Franklin -- the earliest known printed accounting of the so-called First Grinnell Expedition in 1850-51, compiled under the direction of Matthew Fontaine Maury. Serving as the catalyst for the founding of the American Geographical Society, the expedition was not only an exemplar of endurance and persistence, it also resulted in new geographic discoveries, shaded blue on this chart. These blue areas were to be disputed by the British. Most significantly, the American expedition, along with several British ships also searching for Franklin, located a vital clue in Franklin's mystery: Beechy Island. The chart details the tracks of the First Grinnell Expedition of 1850-51 and new discoveries of land made by the expedition. As a manuscript note on the back explains, the voyage was the first "American Arctic Expedition in Search of Sir John Franklin." This chart would seem to be the earliest publication to stem from the expedition, which found the most significant evidence of Franklin's to that date, the encampment and graves on Beechy Island. The chart also shows the American side of a geographic dispute fueled by dueling geographic names and features as reported by Edwin Jesse De Haven (1816-1865), of the American expedition, and William Penny (1809-1892), a British whaler and explorer. The chart was constructed by Maury utilizing information from three British Admiralty charts, then the best navigational charts in the world and adding to it the observations made by the Expedition and a detailed account of its tracks. The chart's compiler, Passed Midshipman George P. Welsh (d.1860), who worked under the famed oceanographer Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806-1873), wanted to show the tracks of the ...