The iron socket of a shovel from the 1845 Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The wooden handle and the iron blade have been removed leaving the two sections of the shaft held together by three rivets.

The shovel socket was recovered by the US expedition under Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka between 1878-1880. It is described as 'Item 86. Pieces of a shovel from Irving Bay' in the 1881 catalogue of items that he sent back to Britain in 1881 [TNA, ADM 1/6600].

Schwatka's expedition arrived at Irving Bay (their name for the bay just below Victory Point) on the north west coast of King William Island on 25 June 1879 where they discovered Lt. Irving's grave. Nearby, at the Crozier camp site close to the Ross Cairn, Victory Point, King William Island they came across more material abandoned by the crews of Erebus and Terror when they deserted the ships in April 1848. Gilder recorded that 'Even the handles of the shovels and pickaxes had been sawed off, probably by the natives who first found the place' [Gilder, page 129]. F. L. McClintock lists 'one shovel' at the site that was not brought away by him in 1859. [McClintock, page 368].

The socket is not specifically mentioned in the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, 1913 catalogue.