Relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-48. A silver, fiddle-pattern table fork owned by Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). The back of the handle bears the Franklin crest-a conger eel's head, between two branches. It was 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 spoon has London hallmarks with the date letter for 1844-45 and the maker's mark of George Adams (the initials 'GA').
It was presented to Greenwich Hospital by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 2 December 1854.

The Fork also has the initials 'WR' scratched on the front of the handle (William Rhodes, Quartermaster of HMS 'Terror'). Rhodes was 31 at the time of the expedition and came from Reading Street in Kent. The initials could also be those of Marine, William Reed, Private 3rd Class of HMS 'Erebus'. He was originally from Bristol and born in about 1816. The officer's silver cutlery seems to have been distributed amongst the crew to preserve it.