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): Aaron Lennon • Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax • David Graf • Dero Goi • Dusty Springfield • Ellen Barkin • Fernando Viña • John Harvey-Jones • Merce Cunningham • Nate Diaz • Octave Crémazie • Patrik Järbyn • Petro Tyschtschenko • Polly Adler • Rafael Benítez • Tucker Fredricks • Vera Krepkina • Walt Williams • Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

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