A short irregular piece of copper sheet

A short irregular piece of copper sheet from the 1845 British Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The copper has an uneven and scratched surface and irregularly shaped edges.

The piece was possibly found with other scraps of metal on the east side of Montreal Island by Carl Petersen, Interpreter, from Captain F. L. McClintock's sledge team on 15 May 1859, as part of the search expedition led by McClintock. McClintock records that the only traces or relics of Europeans found at the east side beside an Inuit inukshuk (cairn) were 'A piece of preserved meat tin, two pieces of iron hoop, some scraps of copper, and an iron hoop bolt', having been moved there by Inuit. [McClintock, Voyage of the Fox (1859), page 267].

The copper was displayed at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, Case 2, No. 39. 'Pieces of iron and copper sheet'. The item is possibly shown in - 'Stereoscopic slides of the relics of Sir John Franklin's Expedition' photographed by Lieutenant Cheyne RN, at the United Services Museum, Whitehall, No. 3.