Charles Codrington Forsyth was born circa 1810. In 1826, he entered the Navy, serving on anti-slavery operations on the African coast before transferring to HMS Beagle (Captain Fitzroy) on the South Atlantic Station. After serving in Burma, he was employed on surveying duties in Australia, where he met John Franklin who was governor of Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania]. Advancing to the rank of lieutenant in 1843, he participated in further anti-slavery operations and saw active service on the South African coast.
Promoted commander in 1849, Forsyth was appointed leader and commander of the schooner Prince Albert on the British Franklin Search Expedition in 1850, sponsored by Jane, Lady Franklin and by public subscription to search for the missing northwest passage expedition in the region of Boothia Peninsula and Prince Regent Inlet. Setting out from Aberdeen in June 1850, the expedition landed at Port Leopold to examine the site of Sir James Ross's wintering. Heavy ice hampered their progress through the inlet and they were unable to pass beyond Fury Point, turning back and crossing Barrow Strait to Cape Riley on Devon Island. There, he learned of the discovery of relics of the Franklin expedition at Cape Riley and of the discovery of Franklin's winter quarters on nearby Beechey Island. Cutting short the expedition, he returned to Britain to convey the news to Lady Franklin and the Admiralty.
After the expedition, Forsyth was appointed inspecting commander of the Coastguard at Berwick-on-Tweed and Brighton before commanding the steam vessel HMS Hornet in the Far East where he participated in the Crimean War between 1854 and 1855 and the China War from 1856 to 1857. Following his promotion to the rank of captain in 1857, Forsyth was placed in charge of HMS Valorous on the Cape Station, later commanding coastguard vessels on the Humber. Retiring in 1870, he died in 1873.
From the guide to the Charles Forsyth collection, 1850-1851, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
