Twelve oak staves of a wooden canteen from the 1845 Northwest Passage Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. The staves are grooved top and bottom on the inner surfaces. There is traces of blue paint on the outer surface.

The staves were recovered by the US expedition under Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka between 1878-1880. It is described as 'Item 51. Staves from a wooden cantine[sic] from on Wall Bay' in the 1881 catalogue of items that he sent back to Britain in 1881 [TNA, ADM 1/6600].

Schwatka's expedition was returning from Cape Felix at the top of King William Island. On around 12 July 1879 they passed close to Cape Maria Louisa, near Wall Bay on the west coast of King William Island. An Inuit boy Awanak located an Inuit cache of Franklin expedition items. This included '...staves of another canteen...' [Gilder, page 148].

Heinrich Klutschak reported that an Inuk had told the expedition that he had cached these items under a rock for lack of transport but was unable to find them when he came back [Klutschak, page 94].

The staves were displayed at the Royal Naval Museum, Greenwich, in 'Case 10, No 5. Staves of a wooden canteen'. It was also in Display 15 at the Royal Naval Exhibition at Chelsea in 1891.