In his second marriage Franklin was most fortunate in winning a cultured, travelled woman of wealth, Jane Griffin, whose sympathies were entirely in harmony with his own, and whose devotion to his memory kept alive for twelve years the interest of the world in ceaseless efforts to ascertain his fate. The succeeding years until the last ill-fated voyage were most happily divided between a cruise on the Mediterranean, in which Franklin commanded the _Rainbow_ with such pleasure to the crew and officers that the ship won the cheerful sobriquet of _Celestial Rainbow_ and the _Paradise of Franklin_, and the governorship of the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, or Tasmania, a post he held for seven years with admirable success. Franklin had only been a few months in England when the Admiralty, through Sir John Barrow, for many years an enthusiastic promoter of Arctic enterprise, decided upon another expedition to effect the discovery of the Northwest Passage. It is recorded that the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Haddington, in conversing with Sir Edward Parry upon the advisability of offering Franklin the post of commanding officer, remarked:— “I see Franklin is sixty years old. Ought we to let him go?” to which Parry answered,— “My lord, he is the best man for the post I know, and if you don’t let him go, he will, I am certain, die of disappointment.” In an interview with Franklin, Lord Haddington spoke again of his age being sixty, and added,— “You might be content with your laurels, after having done so much for your country,” to which Franklin replied with all the eagerness of youth,— “No, no! my lord, only fifty-nine!” Lord Brougham, when told that the command had been accepted by Franklin, remarked,— “Arctic work gets into the blood of these men. They _can’t help_ going again if they get a chance.” The _Erebus_ and _Terror_ were both ships that had seen many years’ service in Arctic and Antarctic seas. They were provisioned for three years and supplied with every facility for scientific and geographical observations. The combined crews and officers number one hundred and thirty-eight souls. In company with the transport, _Barreto Junior_, the expedition sailed from Greenhithe on the 19th of May, 1845. The 4th of July, they reached Whale Fish Island, near Disco, in Greenland, and here the _Barreto Junior_ transferred to the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ her extra stores, returning to England with the last message from Franklin ever received by the Admiralty. “The ships are now complete with supplies of every kind for three years; they are therefore very deep, but happily we have no reason to expect much sea as we proceed further.” With confidence and enthusiasm, John Franklin turned to the north, “much better in health,” Lieutenant Fairholme had written, “than when we left home, and really looks ten years younger. He takes an active part in everything that goes on, and his long experience in such service makes him a most valuable adviser.”