Shako Plate (Royal Marine's Cap Badge) Found by Lieutenant William R. Hobson at an Abandoned Camp Site at Cape Felix, King William Island, 25 May 1859 (ca. 1845)
| Created by: | |
| Archive: | National Maritime Museum |
| Reference number: | Object ID no. AAA2121 |
| Date: | ca. 1845 |
| Notes: | A relic of Sir John Franklin's last expedition 1845-8. The shako plate was collected by the McClintock Search Expedition 1857-9. A thin copper alloy plate, embossed with a star burst bearing a foul anchor and three ribbons inscribed 'GIBRALTAR' and with the Royal Marines motto 'PER MARE PER TERRAM' (by land and sea). There is a small piece of lead and a hook on the back. The camp site was occupied by about twelve officers and men from the Franklin expedition during the summer of 1847; they lived in three small tents. They were probably engaged in surveying, scientific work or hunting while the expedition's ships remained trapped in the ice. The site was apparently abandoned in a hurry - Hobson found the tents flattened with blankets and bear skins underneath. He concluded that, as the party had left behind so much of their equipment, they had probably gone back to the ships. |
