An original portrait photograph of Irish Arctic explorer Francis Crozier, which was taken shortly before the doomed Franklin expedition, will be auctioned in London next month.
As BBC News reports, Capt Francis Crozier and 13 other senior officers were photographed in May 1845.
Sir John's wife Jane, Lady Franklin, had asked for photos, and at least two sets of 14 daguerreotypes, or early photographs, were taken on board HMS Erebus shortly before the ships' departure.
The portraits were made by the Beard Studio, which was founded by pioneering photographer Richard Beard.
HMS Erebus and HMS Terror became trapped in ice floes in September 1846 and were deserted the following April.
A note left by members of the expedition on King William Island, and found by explorers in 1859, revealed that Sir John Franklin died on 11th June 1847.
After this date, Capt Crozier was in charge of the 105 then surviving members of the mission - all of whom are ultimately thought to have perished.
HMS Terror, originally a Royal Navy warship, was built in 1813. Coincidentally, the wreck of the vessel was discovered in Terror Bay in 2016. The wreck of HMS Erebus was located in 2014.
The Franklin explorers brought their daguerreotype camera with them, and marine archaeologists are hopeful that images taken during the expedition could be recovered from the device, if it were ever found.
One of the sets of photos is currently held by the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, but it lacks images of Capt Crozier, commander of HMS Terror, and Robert Sargent, a mate on HMS Erebus.
Capt Francis Crozier is pictured in the second row down, the far right photo, as part of a 14-portrait set
To date, historians have only had access to copies of these two men's daguerreotypes, and Franklin researchers had long speculated as to whether the second, complete, set of original daguerreotypes survived.
The 14 portraits that have now emerged were owned by Franklin's descendants and will be auctioned by Sotheby’s.
Their sale is estimated to fetch between £150,000 and £200,000.
See the BBC News report here
