The north-west passage was the sea route round the north of the American continent which was thought to provide a passage to China and the East. Several arctic expeditions had tried and failed to find it. Millais painted this picture in 1874 just when another English expedition was preparing to set off on the same voyage.When the picture was shown at the Royal Academy in 1874 it was accompanied by the lines ‘It might be done, and England should do it’. This patriotic message is underlined by the presence of the Union Flag draped over a screen.