Editing Fox (ship)

{{Short description|Steam yacht commanded by Francis Leopold McClintock}}
{{about||other vessels called Fox|Hudson's Bay Company vessels|and|HMS Fox}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=November 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin |infobox caption=''Fox''}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=SS Fox (1854).jpg
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag=[[File:Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|70px|Merchant Navy Ensign]]
|Ship name=''Fox''
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Alexander Hall and Sons]], [[Aberdeen]]
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=1854
|Ship fate=Wrecked 1912
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship type= Auxiliary steamship
|Ship tons burthen=320 [[Builder's Old Measurement|BM]]
|Ship length=*{{convert|132|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} (hull overall)
*{{convert|120|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|24|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|11|ft|6|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Schooner|3-masted schooner rigged]]
|Ship propulsion=Sails and steam (16 nominal [[horse power]])
|Ship complement=26
|Ship armament=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Fox''''' was an 1854 [[steam yacht]] commanded by [[Leopold McClintock]] on a privately funded 1857–1859 expedition to the North American [[Arctic Archipelago]] to search for clues about the fate of [[Franklin's lost expedition]].

== History ==

=== Early service ===
''Fox'' was a built as a yacht for Sir Richard Sutton, 2nd Baronet at a cost of about £5000. The ship's hull was diagonally planked with Scotch [[larch]] on the inside and East India [[teak]] on the outside, and the two-cylinder auxiliary steam engine of 16 n.h.p. gave a speed of about seven knots.

''Fox'' had made just one cruise to Norway before Sutton's death. After a period of use in the Baltic during the [[Crimean War]], the vessel was laid up in a partly dismantled state at the builders' yards. The executors of Sutton's will sold the ship for £2000 to Lady [[Jane Franklin]], for use in attempting to find her husband, Sir [[John Franklin]], and his expedition.

=== Expedition of 1857–1859 ===
[[File:The yacht 'Fox' RMG BHC3351.jpg|thumb|right|''Fox'' steaming through Arctic waters]]
Land-based expeditions in 1854 and 1855 under [[John Rae (explorer)|John Rae]] and James Anderson had discovered relics from the missing expedition north of [[Back River (Nunavut)|Back River]], south-west of the [[Boothia Peninsula]]. Lady Franklin had previously sent three expeditions to search this area, but all had failed to reach it.

She purchased ''Fox'' in April&nbsp;1857, after finally accepting advice that the 159-ton auxiliary schooner ''Isabel'' that she had owned since 1852 was too small for the job, and the government had denied her requests to use {{HMS|Resolute|1850|6}}. Sailing Master [[Allen Young]]  donated £500 towards the subscriptions raised for the expedition. ''Fox''{{'}}s second-in-command was Lieutenant William Hobson.

[[File:Fox-Expeditionen i Aaret 1860 over Færøerne, Island og Grønland - no-nb digibok 2009062303023-149.jpg|thumb|''Fox'' in a hurricane]]
''Fox'' left Aberdeen on 1 July 1857, and managed to pass through the [[Bellot Strait]] briefly before finding a secure winter anchorage to the east of the Strait off the Boothia Peninsula. Over the next two years extensive expeditions were made by sled to the west of the Boothia Peninsula.

On 6 May 1859, Hobson discovered the only written messages from the missing expedition ever found, in cairns on [[King William Island]]. The overland parties returned to the ship, which then left for Plymouth, arriving on 20&nbsp;September. Three of the ship's crew died during the expedition: the engineer from natural causes, his assistant by a shipboard accident, and the steward from [[scurvy]].

=== Later service ===
Still under Allen Young's command, ''Fox'' was engaged in survey work between the [[Faroe Islands]] and [[Greenland]] in conjunction with laying a North Atlantic telegraph cable in 1860–1861, before being sold to the Danish Royal Greenland Company. By the late 1880s, ''Fox'' was owned by Akties Kryolith Mine-og Handels Selskabet of Copenhagen, and was refitted with a 17&nbsp;nhp compound steam engine made by [[Burmeister & Wain]]. After a long and useful career, ''Fox'' was wrecked on the coast of Greenland in 1912.

== References ==

=== Footnotes ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* Francis Leopold McClintock, ''The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas: A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions'', John Murray, London, 1859.
* Francis Leopold McClintock, Die Reise der Fox im Arktischen Eismeer. Ein Bericht von der Expedition zur Aufklärung des Schicksals von Sir John Franklin und seiner Gefährten (1857–1859), ed. E. Berkenbusch, St. C. Saar, Wiesbaden 2010
* Roderic Owen, ''The Fate of Franklin: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Most Heroic of Arctic Explorers'', Hutchinson Group (Australia) Pty. Ltd., Richmond South, Victoria, 1978.
* [Christian Frederik] Theodor Zeilau, ''Fox-Expeditionen i Aaret 1860 over Færøerne, Island og Grønland, med Oplysninger om Muligheden af et nordatlantisk Telegraf-Anlæg'', Fr. Wøldikes Forlagsboghandel, Copenhagen, 1861.
* ''The Times'' newspaper (London), 16 April 1857, 16 May 1857, 3 June 1857, 6 August 1912.
* ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London'', 11 February 1861 (RGS, London).
* ''Lloyd's Register of Shipping'', 1900 edn.
* Carl Petersen, "Den sidste Franklin-expedition med "Fox", Capt. M'Clintock", Fr. Wøldikes Forlagsboghandel, Copenhagen, 1860.
{{refend}}

{{Polar exploration|state=collapsed}}
{{Royal Navy Arctic exploration}}
{{1912 shipwrecks}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1854 ships]]
[[Category:Arctic exploration vessels]]
[[Category:Auxiliary steamers]]
[[Category:Exploration ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1912]]
[[Category:Ships built in Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Arctic Ocean]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:Steam yachts]]