"Rare Portraits of Ill-Fated Arctic Explorers from Franklin Expedition Up for Auction"

A set of 14 original portrait photographs of senior officers from the doomed Franklin expedition, including the only known photograph of Capt Francis Crozier, will be auctioned by Sotheby's in London. The portraits, taken in 1845, were part of two sets of daguerreotypes made before the expedition's departure. The set being auctioned was owned by Franklin's descendants and is estimated to fetch between £150,000 and £200,000. The daguerreotypes will be publicly exhibited together for the first time. The Franklin expedition, which aimed to find the Northwest Passage, became a famous maritime mystery after the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror vanished in 1845.