Captain Sir Robert McClure (1807-73) : 'Travelling Costume'

Photograph of a half-length portrait of Captain Sir Robert McClure, Commander of HMS Investigator sent out in search of Sir John Franklin, standing in three-quarters left stance. He wears Arctic dress consisting of mittens, gloves, overcoat and balaclava. His left hand rests on his hip and in his right hand he holds a long pole. He carries a bag and has a ?gun slung over his shoulder.

HMS Investigator became trapped in ice and subsequently abandoned in Mercy Bay in Canada's Nortwest Territories. McClure then undertook a journey on foot to Melville Island in Nova Scotia, where they were eventually rescued by crew from HMS Resolute commanded by Edward Belcher. McClure's journey from west to east across the pack ice resulted in the discovery of the North West Passage. McClure was then taken back to England on board HMS Phoenix via Greenland where this photograph by Inglefield was probably taken. 

In 1854, Edward Augustus Inglefield undertook an expedition to the Arctic to provide assistance to HMS Resolute, one of the many expeditions that was seeking information on the fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew. Following his return to England, Inglefield presented to Queen Victoria an album of 30 photographs taken in northern Greenland. In November 1853 the Queen had seen some of Inglefield's paintings from an earlier expedition. A number of his watercolours can be found in the Royal Collection today.