The soft-wood handle of a hand axe from the 1845 Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The axe head has been removed from the shaft rather than cut off.

The harness was recovered by the US expedition under Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka between 1878-1880. It is described as 'Item 43. Native tools made from material from the wrecked ships, obtained from Eskimo on Hayes River' in the 1881 catalogue of items that he sent back to Britain in 1881 [TNA, ADM 1/6600]. The attached bordered paper label with '43' on confirms this identity.

Schwatka's expedition found this in the possession of Inuit camped west of Stewart's Monument, Hayes River around 15-17 May 1879. Gilder records 'We obtained from them a few trifling relics of the Erebus and Terror, in exchange for knives and needles.' [Gilder, pages 77-78]. Klutschak's account notes 'Among them we encounted the first relics of objects which once were either parts of the two ships Erebus and Terror or otherwise belonged to the Franklin expedtion. Arrow tips, lances, show shovels, in biref everything made of wood, copper, and iron...' [Klutschak, page 64].

The axe handle is painted in white letters '(8) AXE SHAFT', indicating it was displayed in the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, 'Case 6. Native tools &c, obtained from the Ookosiksillik Esquimaux at Hayes River, and made from parts belonging to H.M. ships "Erebus" and "Terror". It had the original designation of Case 6, No. 8 before the catalogue entry was amalgamated into one for the final published version.