The collection consists of extracts from Captain Austin's instructions to his assistants, and observations and bearings recorded by them, during the expedition to the Arctic in 1851 (in which Austin commanded a squadron) to search for traces of the expedition by Sir John Franklin in 1845, which had failed with the loss of all who had taken part. The papers are preceded by twelve sheets of printed matter concerning Franklin and his expedition, much of it press-cuttings from copies of the ‘Illustrated London news’ of 1845, 1848, 1849 and 1859 (folio i).