Erasmus Ommanney was born in 1814. He entered the Royal Navy in 1826, serving the following year with the allied forces at the Battle of Navarino in the Mediterranean. In 1836, he joined the British Relief Expedition (leader James Clark Ross), as third lieutenant in HMS Cove, organized by the Admiralty to rescue the crews of eleven whaling vessels that had been beset and forced to winter in Davis Strait in 1835. Advancing to commander in 1840, Ommanney served in HMS Vesuvius in the Mediterranean from 1841 to 1846. In 1846, he was promoted captain, rendering valuable service during the famine in Ireland.
Returning to the Arctic, he commanded HMS Assistance during the British naval Franklin search expedition, 1850-1851, sent by the Admiralty to search for Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage expedition. Ommanney was responsible for discovering the first evidence that Franklin had in fact reached the Canadian Arctic, finding signs of a field camp at Cape Riley, Devon Island, and a cairn and other relics on Beechey Island, which was subsequently shown to have been Franklin's winter quarters in 1845-1846. The expedition also conducted extensive coastal surveys and observations of topography, geology, fauna and meteorology.
After the expedition, Ommanney continued to serve with the Royal Navy, commanding the British squadron in the White Sea during the Crimean War. In 1855, he commanded HMS Hawke in the Baltic and was awarded the Baltic Medal. He was promoted rear admiral in 1864, retiring from the Royal Navy as admiral. He was knighted in 1887 and died on 21 December 1904.
From the guide to the Sir Erasmus Ommanney collection, 1857-1902, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
