This narrative reflects on one of the most perilous quests in Polar exploration--the search for the Northwest Passage. The fabled route to the Orient took many lives, including the entire crews of Franklin's Erebus and Terror and even some of the men sent to find out what happened to the unfortunate explorers. Ernest Coleman's study tells the story of not just Franklin and his ill-fated expedition but also the Royal Navy's involvement until Scott's Antarctic journey of 1912.