Letter from Marianne Simpkinson to her cousin Eleanor Franklin

Eleanor Franklin (1824-1860) was the daughter of Sir John Franklin who led a British naval expedition to discover the North West Passage in 1845. The expedition was last seen in Baffin Bay that summer, but after two years with no word, the Admiralty began to send ships to search for Franklin’s expedition.

In this letter her cousin, Marianne Simpkinson, sympathises with Eleanor at her distress at the return of Sir James Ross, who had led an unsuccessful search for Franklin's expedition in 1848-1849. Although she hopes the Government will be induced to send another ship to the Bering Straits, she is afraid that her Aunt (Lady Jane Franklin) "will do a great deal of mischief” because “her violence and wrong feeling and her strange way of viewing everything will be very likely to frustrate any attempt she may make to have another ship sent out".

Lady Jane Franklin, Eleanor's stepmother, was indomitable and outspoken in persuading the Admiralty to carry out search parties for her husband. She was, in fact, successful in instigating many more searches, including some which she funded herself.