| History | On the 12th June 1810, Francis was taken into the Royal Navy at the age of thirteen; over the years he impressed all who worked with him, including Sir John Barrow who called him ‘a most zealous young officer, who, by his talents, attention and energy has succeeded in working himself up to the top of the service'. He gained a lot of experience in polar exploration, first in William Edward Parry’s Arctic expeditions, 1819-1827, then as James Clark Ross’s second-in-command on the voyage to find magnetic south, 1839-1843. With Ross leading the expedition in H.M.S. Erebus and Crozier supporting him in H.M.S. Terror, they set out to the Antarctic with the purpose of making discoveries and carrying out observations of terrestrial magnetism. Although unsuccessful in their main aim, they had safely brought back two small sailing ships and 128 men. En route, the entourage had stopped in 1840-1841 at Hobart in Tasmania, where Crozier had fallen deeply in love with Franklin’s niece and Lady Franklin’s trusted friend, confidante and secretary, Sophia Cracroft. In spite of her being flirtatious with him, she made little secret of her preference for Ross. Sophia returned to London with the Franklins in June 1844, where Crozier tried once again to win her favour, but she she turned him down again, insisting that she would not want to marry a man who spent his life at sea. After this, Francis became seriously depressed, and, rather than sail again, took a year’s leave from the Navy, and set off to travel Europe. Crozier was then offered the leadership of the next Arctic expedition in 1845. Although Francis eventually turned down full command, he did accept being a a second-in-command under Sir John Franklin, commanding H.M.S. Terror . Crozier was far from contented as a part of Franklin’s expedition, resenting the fact that James Fitzjames, Captain of H.M.S. Erebus, had been favoured as officer in charge of magnetic observations, a subject with which Crozier was infinitely more acquainted and the frequent.dining at Franklin's table that required him to be constantly crossing the choppy waters between the two ships. The expedition itself turned out to be a catastrophe, with the ships being marooned in the ice and with several crew members dying early from causes still not satisfactorally explained. After Sir John Franklin’s death in June 1847, Crozier took command of the expedition. On 22 April 1848 the decision was taken to abandon the ships and the remaining 105 officers and men set off on foot to the south. The furthest anyone got was Starvation Cove. It is not known when and where Crozier died, although Inuit tradition suggest he survived until late on. |