Sir – The news from the Canadian government that one of Sir John Franklin’s ships has been discovered from his doomed quest for a North West Passage has particular significance for myself as my great grandfather, John Brett Anderson, was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and an officer in the original search effort to find Sir John and the ship’s company and establish the fate of the venture.

On their unsuccessful return along with others he received the Franklin Expeditionary Medal from the sovereign Queen Victoria. John was quite tall and she was petite. When she placed the medal on his chest he made the request “Could you pin it a little higher Ma’am”.

Victoria obliged teetering on tiptoe but was probably not amused. His father and my great great grandfather James Anderson was a Commander in the Royal Navy with the honorary rank of Captain and some of his artefacts are preserved in the naval museum at Portsmouth.

John Brett Mackie, Oxford