Beschreibung:

Ommanney, Erasmus, Arctic Explorer, full length portrait Carte de Visite, Maull & Fox, 187 Piccadilly London, written in manuscript to the back '1814-1904 Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney, Navarino 1827, Discovered the first traces ???? of Franklins ships on 23rd Augts 1850. Commissioned White Sea Squadron in 1854. Senior Officer in the Gulf of Riga in 1855' then in pencil in a different hand 'Arctic Explorer in 1850 was the first to discover items from Sir John Franklin's expedition to find the North-West passage'; along with another but later full length portrait Carte de Visite, A Debenham Southsea, photographers to the Admiralty 69 Palmerston Road, Southsea, written in manuscript to the back '1814-1904 Admiral Sir Erasmus Ommanney Arctic Explorer HMS Assistance, 1850 search for Franklin, First person to discover Franklins expedition items on Beechy Island 25 August 1850, Awarded the Arctic medal for his scientific reasearches. Ommanney entered the Royal Navy aged 12 under his uncle Captain John Ommanney Lieutenant in 1855. Service in Baffin Bay and undertook a dangerous mission to rescue Whalers trapped in ice. He had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy'
Sir Erasmus Ommanney, 1814–1904, was a British naval officer and Arctic explorer, most noted for his part in the searches for the lost Franklin Expedition. His career spanned both naval warfare and scientific exploration, and his contributions to Arctic exploration are particularly significant. Eventual to what arguably is highlighted as a milestone in Ommanney's life happened in 1850 when he joined the British Admiralty's search mission in locating Sir John Franklin and his lost crew in the search for the Northwest Passage. In command of HMS Assistance, Ommanney presided over a squadron mounting an extensive search of the Arctic-on August 23, 1850, specifically at Cape Riley on Beechey Island. His team discovered the first physical evidence of Franklin's doomed expedition: evidence of camps and the graves of three crew. The discovery, although it did not find any direct evidence of Franklin's ships, marked the first tangible evidence to prove that the expedition survived at least some time after entering the Arctic, and it significantly influenced future searches.
Besides taking part in the Franklin search, Ommanney had prepared numerous contributions to Arctic exploration. Local surveys and observations he was able to carry out in the Arctic, particularly in Baffin Bay, had served to plot the unknown coastlines and gave very vital meteorological and oceanographic data. His merit and skill as a commander and scientific rigor earned him wide respect both in the naval and scientific circles. Service of Ommanney extended beyond exploration. He was a decorated officer active in the Mediterranean and participant in the Crimean War. For his services to the Navy and polar exploration, he was knighted in 1867. In his old age, he published accounts of his Arctic experiences thereby shedding light on the travails of polar exploration.
Erasmus Ommanney's legacy is firmly tied to his part in the Franklin search, but, in its broader setting of his work for naval exploration and to science, underlines his emergent continuing impact on the field of Arctic discovery and British naval history.