One of Two knitted cotton gloves belonging to a member of Sir John Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition. They are two left hands, not a pair. there is the remains of elastic at the wrists and a small heart worked into the palm of both hands. Found laid out to dry on Beechey Island, 29 August 1850 by Sherard Osborn, HMS 'Pioneer', during Captain Horatio Austin's search expedition 1850-51. '...happening to cross a level piece of ground which no-one had lighted upon, I was pleased to see a pair of cashmere gloves laid out to dry, with two small stones on the palms to prevent their blowing away; they had been there since 1846' Sherrard Osborn 'Stray Leaves from a Arctic Journal'. The item was in the collections of the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich - see MSS draft catalogue 1913 NMM 20/3.