Captain Sir John Franklin was the most famous British explorer during the 19th century. And his final expedition, as it happens, was the most disastrous and scandalous British shipwreck. The first part (50 minutes) of this course is a historical narrative of the Franklin Expedition, but it is fundamentally also a cultural and literary history of Britain in the 19th century. It will explore themes of empire, identity, and citizenship, and will provide gripping information to wow friends at future cocktail parties. The second part of the course shifts gears from history to applied wilderness survival. We will discuss and practice hands-on what the explorers did right--and, fatally, what they did wrong--when disaster struck.