River Thames Gallery

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, 1845

Engraving showing HMS Erebus (left) and HMS Terror, pictured on the River Thames, 1845. In 1845 the British Admiralty sent two polar exploration ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, to look for the Northwest passage round the northern coast of Canada. The expedition, commanded by Sir John Franklin, disappeared from view late in 1845 and none of the men were ever seen again. In fact the ships made it to the King William Island region, then got stuck in the ice. With supplies running out the surviving crew abandoned ship and headed south. However, none made it to safety and it is assumed all died from disease, exposure or starvation. From 1848 onwards a number of relief expeditions were sent to find Franklin, but it was only in 1859 that Francis Leopold McClintock was able to confirm Franklin's fate

© Mary Evans Picture Library 2015 - https://copyrighthub.org/s0/hub1/creation/maryevans/MaryEvansPictureID/10217704

Folly Ditch, Jacobs Island, (c1878). Creator: Unknown

Folly Ditch, Jacob's Island, (c1878). Jacob's Island, a notorious slum on the south bank of the River Thames in Bermondsey, London, was made famous in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist. The villain Bill Sikes is chased by police and dies in the mud of Folly Ditch'. From Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, And Its Places. The Southern Suburbs, Volume VI, by Edward Walford. [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York, c1878]

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images

Panorama of London, 1616 (engraving)

XOS1448854 Panorama of London, 1616 (engraving) by Visscher, Nicolaes (Claes) Jansz (1586-1652); Private Collection; (add.info.: View of London from South bank with its Tudor theatres, London Bridge spanning the river and old St Paul's beyond. The large church of St Mary Overie in the foreground is now Southwark Cathedral.); Dutch, out of copyright

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