Austin was born in England on 18 March 1800, the son of an official in the Chatham Dockyard. In 1828, was dispatched on a scientific expedition in the Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain
Henry Foster, with Austin as his first lieutenant. Foster explored the South Atlantic, and especially the
South Shetland Islands. Foster drowned in 1831, in the
Chagres River in Panama. After Foster's loss, the ship's command fell to Austin. On the expedition, the ship circumnavigated along the
Southern Hemisphere and visited the
River Plate,
Isla de los Estados and
South Georgia, before returning to
Falmouth in 1830. During the early 1840s he commanded the steam paddle wheel frigate
Cyclops. Following the 1849 failure of Sir
James Clark Ross's attempt to locate
Franklin's lost expedition, Austin led an expedition in 1850 that also attempted to find the missing explorers. George F. McDougall was second master on board . Although the expedition located only traces of Franklin's presence, Austin is credited with organising successful sledging expeditions along the coasts of several
North American Arctic islands, including the island of
Bathurst,
Byam Martin,
Melville, and
Prince of Wales. Between October 1850 and March 1851, members of the
Resolute crew under Austin published at least five editions of a handwritten newspaper,
The Illustrated Arctic News, during the wintering of the
Resolute in what they identified as
Barrow Strait. Upon the return of the
Resolute to home port in England, the manuscript paper was printed in London in 1852. Austin became admiral superintendent at
Malta Dockyard in 1863, and died in November 1865. and was promoted to
Knight Commander (KCB) in March 1865 just months before his death. == References ==