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Learn more about the marine chronometer that journeyed on board HMS Beagle before being lost at sea during Sir John Franklin's disastrous expedition

This month we investigate a small notebook from the Journal and Diary collection (RMG reference: JOD/325), kept by Thomas Edward Chilvers from the time he was serving in the Merchant Navy onboard the ship Empire Baffin. The Journal and Diary collection offers a fascinating insight into life at sea in the Royal and Merchant Navy, the fields of exploration and leisure activities in the words of those who contributed to laying the foundations of Britain’s maritime heritage.

Start your journey in the maritime spirit and and travel down the River Thames to Greenwich

This is the second deck you visit on your tour around Cutty Sark

We know a lot about Sir John Franklin. By the time he led the expedition to the Arctic in 1845, he was a household name, a naval hero and one of the Navy's leading magnetic scientists. But what of the other 128 men who died on this fatal expedition? What do we know about them? Jeremy Michell investigates the life of the ship's cook, John Diggle.