Not here! For the white North holds your bones! And you, soul of a heroic sailor, you make your way towards a pole not of this earth. --Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), text engraved on a monument dedicated to Sir John Franklin at Westminster Abbey (translated into French by E.S. Dodgson) Already a sensation at the time, this story still captures the imagination 170 years later. Under the command of Sir John Franklin, two ships of the Royal Navy set sail in May 1845 to map the last, as yet unknown, part of the Northwest Passage. Everything seemed to point to a successful outcome. But no one ever returned. Subsequent expeditions in search of the missing ships discovered only legends and relics. Then, in September 2014, the news stunned the world: the Canadian Victoria Strait Expedition had just discovered the wreck of the H.M.S. Erebus, the flagship of the Franklin Expedition, lying on the seabed of the Arctic Ocean. This scientific discovery is full of hope: new evidence may well help solve some of the mysteries that still surround the lost expedition and its final days. What really happened to the Franklin expedition? As part of its Shipwrecked in Canadian Waters series, the Royal Canadian Mint commemorates this infamous voyage with a coin depicting the ships of the Franklin Expedition before their disappearance in the cold, ice-covered waters of Canada's North. Special features LETTERING ON EDGE: On the edge, lettering indicates the names of the two ships, "H.M.S. TERROR" and "H.M.S. EREBUS". Second coin in a series recalling well-known shipwrecks in Canadian waters, and the legends these events inspired. This piece marks the departure of the ill-fated Franklin expedition and the important role it played in the scientific exploration of the Canadian Arctic. A magnificent color reproduction of the H.M.S. Erebus and the H.M.S. Terror frames the shoreline where the ships were abandoned in 1848. The piece also serves as a moving reminder of the 2014 discovery of the H.M.S. Erebus, as part of a Parks Canada-led expedition that marked a truly historic moment for Canada. This maritime archaeological discovery added a new chapter to a story that has captured the imagination of many. It may finally provide answers to the questions still raised by the expedition's disappearance. Did you know? The H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror were former bombers, converted and equipped for a previous voyage to Antarctica. There, the active volcano at the southernmost tip of the globe is named after this ship, Erebus, as is a crater on Mars. Lady Jane Franklin devoted most of her fortune to funding expeditions to find her husband and his crew. In particular, she financed the 1857-1859 voyage under the command of Captain Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, which confirmed the tragic end of the Franklin expedition. The H.M.S. Resolute took part in the Franklin expedition's unsuccessful search efforts, and was one of four ships abandoned in the ice in 1853. Recovered by an American whaler, her ribs were reused to make two famous desks, including the Resolute Desk, used by several US presidents. Although the Franklin expedition was not as successful as had been hoped, the route it planned to take south of Victoria Island was followed in 1906 by Roald Amundsen on his successful crossing of the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin and his crew left Greenhithe, England, on May 19, 1845. They were instructed to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, via the Northwest Passage. The H.M.S. Erebus and the H.M.S. Terror were reinforced, equipped and well supplied for the expedition, which initially looked promising. They were last seen by Europeans in Baffin Bay in the summer of 1845. In 1848, with no news of the 129 men and no confirmed visual evidence of the ships' presence, the British government offered a substantial reward to anyone who could provide information on the fate of the Franklin expedition. The result was one of the largest search-and-rescue operations in history, during which vast areas of the Canadian Arctic were mapped. The first answers about the expedition's whereabouts finally emerged in 1850, when researchers located the site where the Franklin expedition had spent the winter of 1845-1846, on Beechey Island. They found hundreds of empty tin cans and three graves. But the search didn't stop there. Inuit testimonies and the discovery of additional material revealed that the entire crew had perished near King William Island. The discovery, in 1859, of a message in a cairn on the west coast of King William Island was the only written confirmation of the expedition's disappearance. According to the message, the two ships were icebound in Victoria Strait in 1846. Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847. By the time the ships were abandoned on April 22, 1848, another 20 officers and crew had perished. The message ends by stating that the 105 survivors of the expedition intended to head for the Great Fish River (now the Back River). Yet neither men nor ships were seen again, at least by Europeans, until the H.M.S. Erebus was identified in 2014 by Parks Canada. The story of the Franklin expedition continues to capture the imagination, often interweaving historical fact and fiction. Theories abound about the final days of many of the 129 men who disappeared: lead poisoning, scurvy, starvation, cannibalism. Recent discoveries may in time shed new light on some of these theories. That said, the H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror are still the subject of sustained interest, fueled by enthusiasts seeking to unravel one of the world's most famous maritime mysteries, while revisiting an entire section of Canadian national history. Packaging The coin is encapsulated and presented in a burgundy double-shell case featuring the Royal Canadian Mint logo. The case comes with an illustrated protective box.