A steel file blade without a blade from salvaged material from the 1845 British Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin.

The file was bartered from a group of Inuit by Captain F. L. McClintock's sledge team on 3 March 1859 near Cape Victoria, Boothia Peninsula. Here the sledge team met about 45 Inuit who bartered relics in exchange for knives, files, scissors, beads &c... In his appendix McClintock is more specific, stating 'two files...' [McClintock, The Voyage of the Fox (1859), p370].

The file has (2) painted in white, indicating that it was displayed at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, 'Case 5, No. 2. Files' .This was amalgamated with No. 7 'A file with handles'. The item is shown in - 'Stereoscopic slides of the relics of Sir John Franklin's Expedition' photographed by Lieutenant Cheyne RN, at the United Services Museum, Whitehall, No. 10 (top left). It was shown in an engraving in 'The Illustrated London News' 15 October 1859 p. 363.