William Penny

Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

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Notes

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Penny was sent to sea at a young age by his father who was a whale skipper. He was an early advocate of marine steam power; commanding the first steam whaler, into the Arctic regions. He played a major part in the search for Sir John Franklin and the crew of Erebus and Terror, who were lost in the Arctic during an attempt to discover the Northwest Passage. Penny sailed in May 1850 and found on Beechey Island traces of Franklin's winter quarters of 1845–1846 but none of the 129 members of the expedition.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

William Penny

Date

1853

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 127.3 x W 100 cm

Accession number

1209

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by John Barrow, 1899

Work type

Painting

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