Hitherto the northern coasts of North America had remained completely unknown save for the work of Hearne and Mackenzie, and it was felt that something should be done to fill up the large area of blank on the map. The Secretary of State for the Colonies now resolved that, with the co-operation of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the coast-line should be discovered and surveyed. The officer selected for this arduous duty was Lieutenant John Franklin, who had just returned from the command of the _Trent_ in the Spitsbergen seas. Few officers of his age had seen so much service. A Lincolnshire lad, born at Spilsby and educated at Louth Grammar School, Franklin entered the navy at the age of 14, and in his very first ship, the _Polyphemus_, he was at the battle of Copenhagen and closely engaged. Next he joined the discovery ship _Investigator_ under his relative Captain Flinders[124], and was for two years engaged in the survey of the coast of the great island to which Flinders gave the name of Australia. At last the old _Investigator_ was found to be no longer seaworthy. She was condemned, and her captain, officers, and crew were embarked on board H.M.S. _Porpoise_ for a passage to England. Entangled among the reefs off the coast of Queensland, the _Porpoise_ ran on shore, became a wreck, and young Franklin found himself one of 94 souls on a sandbank. Flinders went in an open boat to Port Jackson, 750 miles off, and returned with help, and eventually Franklin got a passage in a vessel bound for Canton, with the object of returning home in one of the East India Company’s ships. He was taken on board the _Earl Camden_, Commodore Dance, and sailed with the China fleet of merchantmen, when as signal midshipman he took part in an ever-memorable action. In the Straits of Malacca the French Admiral Linois was encountered with a line-of-battle ship and three frigates, and after a sharp fight the French retreated, and were chased for three hours by the English merchantmen. In 1804 Franklin joined the _Bellerophon_ at the blockade of Brest, and on the 21st of October, 1805, was at the battle of Trafalgar, when he was once more signal midshipman. His next service was on board the _Bedford_, escorting the royal family of Portugal to Rio. He became a Lieutenant in 1808 and served in the Walcheren expedition. In 1813 he convoyed a fleet of merchantmen to the West Indies, and his last war service was a severe but successful action with American gun-boats near New Orleans.