John Franklin

Sir John Franklin was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, in 1819 and 1825, and served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1839 to 1843. During his third and final expedition, an attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage in 1845, Franklin's ships became icebound off King William Island in what is now Nunavut, where he died in June 1847. The icebound ships were abandoned ten months later and the entire crew died from causes such as starvation, hypothermia, and scurvy.

16 April 1786

Born on the same birth day (16 April): Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì • Berton Roueché • Dusty Springfield • Esther Roth-Shahamorov • Frits Philips • Hans Sloane • Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730) • Howard Mumford Jones • Hsuan Hua • Ike Pappas • John Hadley • John Hodiak • John Millington Synge • Matthieu Proulx • Patrik Järbyn • Paweł Kieszek • Pierre Littbarski • Pope Benedict XVI • Rafael Benítez • Rolf Schult • Sadie Sink • Sarah Kirsch • Teddy Cobeña • Tony McQuay • Vangelis Mantzaris

Born in the same month (April 1786): William Mulready