Brackets

• [] = context, format

• <> = uncertain

• <…> = illegible

Ranks

• Lieut = Lieutenant

Terms

• Col. = Colony

• HMS = Her Majesty’s Ship

• <Memo.> = memorandum, briefing note/as reminder

• RN = (British) Royal Navy

¹ Commander Owen Stanley, RN, commanded HMS Britomart from August 13, 1839, until April 27, 1843, having already served aboard the ship as Lieutenant from December 21, 1837, onwards.

² Gore’s commission to HMS Herald would have started on October 28, 1840. However, the ship had already left port by the time Gore arrived in Port Jackson, Sydney (Cumberland, Col. New South Wales / Australia).

³ Still awaiting the return of HMS Herald, Gore had boarded HMS Beagle on February 24, 1841. The proper commission as 1st Lieutenant followed on April 1, 1841. He served aboard HMS Beagle until October 14, 1843.

⁴ Stanley had served alongside Gore aboard HMS Terror in 1846-1837 and would command HMS Blazer, one of the supply ships of the Franklin Expedition, as Captain in 1845.

Note 1

• Officers’ Service Record (Series III). Stanley, Owen, in: National Archives, Kew, London (UK), ADM 196/6/155

Note 2

• The Navy List (June 1841). London (UK), John Murray (via Archive.org, accessed on April 18, 2025)

• Stokes, John Lort (1846): Discoveries in Australia. With an Account of the Coast and Rivers. Explored and Survey during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43 (vol. 1). London (UK), T. and W. Boone (via Archive.org, accessed on April 18, 2025)

Note 3

• Ship’s Musters (Series III). Beagle C., D., O. (February 6, 1837 - October 14, 1843), in: National Archives, Kew, London (UK), ADM 38/7618

• Officers’ Service Record (Series III). Gore, Graham, in: National Archives, Kew, London (UK), ADM 196/4/373

Note 4

• Ship’s Musters (Series II). Ship: Terror, Type: Bomb Ship (July 1, 1837 - November 30, 1837), in: National Archives, Kew, London (UK), ADM 37/9969

• Officers’ Service Record (Series III). Stanley, Owen, in: National Archives, Kew, London (UK), ADM 196/6/155

• James Fitzjames to William Conningham (May 29, 1845), in: Potter, Russell et al. (2023, ed.): May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth. Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition. London (UK) et al. McGill-Queen’s University Press