Arctic Exploration 1850/51: Balloon Message slip printed on yellow silk (150 x 60 mm.), an unused example made for the Expedition led by
Arctic Exploration 1850/51: Balloon Message slip printed on yellow silk (150 x 60 mm.), an unused example made for the Expedition led by Sir John Ross in his search for the ill-fated Sir John Franklin Expedition, which had left London in May 1845 with the ships "Erebus" and "Terror" intending to explore the Canadian Arctic region. They reached Greenland and headed North but were never seen again. Four years later Ross set out in the schooner "Felix" to Lancaster Sound, largely to restore his name after finding the famous North West passage but not recognising he had done so due to ice-blindness (it was later 'found' again by his colleagues on that journey), to search for Franklin and traces of his crew. The Balloon slips were used to attach or be placed inside small balloons, marking where provisions could be found and indicating where the despatching ship intended to spend the winter months when icebound. Ross failed to find Franklin or any of his men and Ross returned to England in October 1851 by way of Greenland, where he encountered rumours that Franklin and his party were all dead. Although most people disregarded these, Ross stood by them. An extraordinary item for the Balloon specialist and the first example this describer has seen.
