The Franklin Expedition was a British voyage that took place in 1845, aiming to find the elusive Northwest Passage through the Arctic. Led by Captain Sir John Franklin, the expedition consisted of two ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, and included 129 crew members. The expedition became infamous when the ships became trapped in ice near King William Island in the Canadian Arctic. After several years without contact, search missions were launched, but the fate of the crew remained a mystery for many years, leading to numerous theories and discoveries about their tragic end.