Steven Samuel Stanley

Stephen Samuel Stanley qualified in medicine in 1838, joining the Navy as an assistant surgeon in the same year and later serving in the China War of 1842. He was appointed surgeon in HMS Erebus on the British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848 (leader Sir John Franklin), sent to search for a Northwest Passage beyond Lancaster Sound and Barrow Strait in the unexplored region south-west of Barrow Strait. Sailing from London in company with HMS Terror in May 1845, the expedition was last seen heading for Lancaster Sound by two whalers in northern Baffin Bay in late July 1845. After that, the expedition disappeared and Europeans never again saw its members alive. The two vessels become beset north of King William Island, where they had spent two winters between September 1846 and April 1848. Franklin died on 11 June 1847 and the command had devolved on Francis Crozier. Abandoning the vessels on 22 April 1848, the 105 survivors led by Crozier set out toward Back River. All perished during the journey.

From the guide to the Seven Stanley collection, 1845, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)