A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-48. The gold dust cover of a watch obtained from the Inuit at Repulse Bay in 1854 by the Rae Expedition. The Inuit said that they had found the material at a camp to the north west of the mouth of the Back River where a party of Europeans had died of starvation.
The watch case is inscribed in cursive script 'James Reid'. The owner James Reid was the Ice-master of 'Erebus', a whaling captain appointed to navigate the ship through the pack ice. Commander Fitzjames described him as 'rough, intelligent, unpolished, with a broad North-Country accent, but not vulgar, good-humoured and honest-hearted'.

The item is shown in the drawing by Edward Pulleyn (AAA3972). It was presented to Greenwich Hospital by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 2 December 1854.