Schwatka's Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records

A cavalry officer in the US Army, with training in law and medicine, Frederick Schwatka (1849–92) became interested in the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin following the search attempts led by the American explorer Charles Francis Hall. Supported by the American Geographical Society, Schwatka sailed in 1878 with five others in search of written records, believed to be deposited in cairns. A soldier turned journalist, William Henry Gilder (1838–1900) accompanied Schwatka and published th...