William B Shellabear served as master's assistant in HMS Enterprise on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1848-1849 (leader James Clark Ross), sent by the Admiralty to search for Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage expedition along the shores of Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel and Prince Regent Inlet. He returned to the Arctic as second master in HMS Assistance for duty in her tender HMS Intrepid on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-1851 (leader Horatio Austin), instructed to search for the missing expedition by way of Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound. On his return to Britain, he joined the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader William Pullen), as master in HMS North Star, the store ship for the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader Sir Edward Belcher). North Star spent two winters at Beechey Island and was the only ship of the five in the search expedition to return to England in 1854, the other four being abandoned on Belcher's orders when beset.
From the guide to the William Shellabear collection, 1850-1869, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
