Artist's statement: When no word was heard from Franklin's 1845 expedition, a search party was sent out to find him in 1849, with no luck. Franklin's old friend, at 72 years of age, Sir John Ross joined the second group of searchers in 1850. He brought along his 12 ton yacht Mary. This group of searchers, which included about 8 ships, discovered the remains of the Franklin encampment on Beechey Island. Before Ross left to return to England he hauled the Mary up on shore so that, if Franklin came back there he would have a small ship with which to set out and would likely be picked up by whalers. In 1926 the Mary was still recognizable, in the 1980's the mast was still standing. It lies here in 2006, as depicted in the painting.