An empty Goldner soup tin.

A soup tin, supplied by the contractor Stephen Goldner to the 1845 Franklin Northwest Passage Expedition, found at Beechey Island in September 1852. The tin is made of sheets of tinned wrought iron soldered together. There are traces of red paint on the exterior. The contents have been removed throught two holes knocked in opposite sides of the top with a chisel and the empty tin squashed flat. The contractors name 'GOLDNER . PATENT' has been impressed on the base. The number '(7)' is painted on the outside, recording its display in the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, where it was exhibited in the Franklin Room, Case 10, Number 7. The item was presented by Franklin's niece, Miss Sophia Cracroft in 1859.

Captain E. A. Inglefield's expedition stopped at Beechey Island on his return from surveying in the Polar Basin and delivering mail and provisions to the depot ship 'North Star', which served as a base for the 1852-54 Belcher Expedition. According to his subsequent publication 'A Summer Search for Sir John Franklin' he reached the island on 7 September 1852 and remained there for twelve hours. There they 'picked up some of the meat canisters with which the island is strewed, and made a collection of some of the relics of canvas and wood which were still found scattered here and there...' (page 86).

Object Details

ID: AAA2038
Collection: Polar Equipment and Relics
Type: Soup tin
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Goldner, Stephen
Events: Arctic Exploration: Franklin's Last Expedition, 1845-1848; Arctic Exploration: Franklin Search Expedition, Inglefield, 1852
Vessels: Isabel fl.1850
Date made: 1845
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.
Measurements: Overall: 120 x 108 mm