Visual culture and Arctic voyages : personal and public art and literature of the Franklin search expeditions In the mid nineteenth century thirty six expeditions set out for the Northwest Passage in search of Sir John Franklins missing expedition. The array of visual and textual material produced on these voyages was to have a profound impact on the idea of the Arctic in the Victorian imaginary. Eavan ODochartaigh closely examines neglected archival sources to show how pictures created in the Arctic fed into a metropolitan view transmitted through engravings lithographs and panoramas. Although the metropolitan Arctic revolved around a fulcrum of heroism terror and the sublime the visual culture of the ship reveals a more complicated narrative that included cross dressing theatricals dressmaking and dances with local communities. ODochartaighs investigation into the nature of the on board visual culture of the nineteenth century Arctic presents a compelling challenge to the man versus nature trope that still reverberates in polar imaginaries today. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.