Royal Canadian Mint

50 dollars

157,6 g

68,81 mm

Silver 999°

750 pcs

Proof

Matthew Bowen

Royal Canadian Mint

Designed by Royal Canadian Mint engraver Matt Bowen, the reverse features an artist’s rendition of the doomed Franklin expedition (1845-1848). The coin’s corrugated edge resembles jagged ice, which has HMS Terror firmly in its grasp on the reverse. In a desperate attempt to survive, the surviving crew and officers are seen abandoning the ship, with one group in the distance hauling a lifeboat towards King William Island. 

Sir John Franklin’s lost expedition to navigate the Northwest passage was one of history’s greatest mysteries, until recently. By combining technology with Inuit traditional knowledge, archaeologists discovered Franklin’s lost ships, including the one shown on this coin. Since 1848, more than 90 different search expeditions attempted to find evidence of Franklin's expedition. The only written record is a single sheet of Admiralty paper found in a stone cairn in 1859 Handwritten notes indicated the ships had been locked in ice for 19 months before being abandoned on April 22, 1848, when survivors moved onto King William Island and tried to reach the mainland.