Sir Francis Leopold McClintock

Francis Leopold McClintock was born on 8 July 1819 in Dundalk. In 1831, he joined the Royal Navy, advancing to lieutenant and serving in Frolic in the Pacific from 1845 to 1847. The following year, he was appointed second lieutenant of HMS Enterprise on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1848-1849 (leader Sir James Clark Ross), sent to the Arctic in search of the missing British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition, 1845-1848. Between May and June 1849, he led a sledge party with Ross which examined the north and west coasts of Somerset Island. Returning to the Arctic the following year, McClintock served as first lieutenant of HMS Assistance under Captain Erasmus Ommanney on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-1851. During this expedition, McClintock resurveyed the south coasts of Byam Martin and Melville Island.

On his return, McClintock was promoted to the rank of commander and was placed in command of HMS Intrepid on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader Sir Edward Belcher). Between April and July 1853, he discovered northern Prince Patrick Island, the northern coasts of Eglinton Island, and the west and south coasts of Emerald Isle. During his various Arctic expeditions, McClintock did much to improve and develop the system of sledging.

In 1857, McClintock was placed in command of Fox on the British Franklin Search Expedition, 1857-1859, a private expedition sponsored by Lady Franklin and public subscription to search in the area of King William Island for relics of Franklin's expedition. With the discovery of a note on the west coast of King William Island in 1859, McClintock was able to establish the date of Franklin's death (11 June 1847) and to prove that the expedition had discovered the existence of a Northwest Passage.

On his return in 1859, McClintock was knighted and published the account of his findings in The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas . In 1860, he was placed in charge of the British North Atlantic Telegraph Expedition; sailing in HMS Bulldog to make a line of soundings by way of Scotland, the Faroes, Iceland, southern Greenland and Labrador, in preparation for the laying of a second telegraph cable between Europe and North America. After this expedition, McClintock was appointed to various commands, serving in the Mediterranean, the West Indies and the North Sea, before taking up an appointment in 1872 as admiral superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, a post he held until 1877, when he was appointed vice admiral. In 1874, he was appointed to form a committee to assist the organization of the British Arctic Expedition, 1875-1876 (leader George Strong Nares). From 1879 to 1882, he served as commander-in-chief of the West Indian and North American station. Retiring from the Navy in 1884 with the rank of admiral, he died on 17 November 1907 in London.

Published work Reminiscences of Arctic ice-travel in search of Sir John Franklin and his companions by Francis Leopold McClintock, Journal of the Royal Dublin Society (1857) SPRI Library Shelf (41)91(091)[pub.1857]

From the guide to the Sir Francis Leopold McClintock collection, 1848-1903, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)