In 1851, William Kennedy took command of the ketch Prince Albert to lead an expedition in search of Sir John Franklin who had gone missing in the Arctic six years earlier.
The search for Franklin captured the Victorian imagination and Lady Franklin poured vast sums of money into funding expeditions in search for her husband. Kennedy, having worked with the Hudson's Bay Company for many years and being well acquainted with the hardship of Arctic travel, made an ideal candidate for such a journey. 
While Kennedy was unsuccessful in finding Franklin, he did make important discoveries about the Canadian Arctic. He used Inuit techniques to explore away from the ship and asked Inuit for information about the area. In 1852, Kennedy returned to Britain having lost none of his men, a first for any Arctic expedition.