Arctic explorer Franklin's ship found?

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

I'm not really that familiar with this expedition but it seems our Canadian neighbors have made a pretty important discovery in the grand scheme of Victorian exploration as well as one of their own sovereignty claims:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29131757

It will certainly take quite some time to unravel all there is to be learned about this ship. Which one was it? What happened to the crew? Probably 1000s of other questions? Maybe some of our resident historians can fill in a few of the blanks of what's known so far?

Rick C

 

[EVILDOCTOR235]

I watched a show about 20 years ago on PBS called Iron Men in Wooden Ships. They spent two winters stuck in the ice that trapped the ships. They know where at least 3 members of the crew are buried in the permafrost. They dug them up and thawed them out.They took tissue samples from the bodies, x-rayed them and took lots of pictures.They then reburied them just as they found them. They found high lead levels in the bodies from the lead that was used to seal the cans of food stored below deck. The high lead levels kinda made the crew go nuts and do stupid things.Lots of info and pictures on the net.

EvilDr235

 

[Phoenix too]

Read Resolute by Martin Sandler. Excellent.

These were MEN back then.

 

[BearBio]

"We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last ... Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman".....Robert Falcon Scott, from his diary, found in his Death Camp, Antarctica

I first read about the Franklin Expedition about 2 years ago. It was in a Gothic horror story called "The Terror", which combined Innuit tribal legends with historical fact (The Terror was the name of one of Franklin's ships). A great, spooky read and one of the channels (FX?) is making it into a movie/mini-series this year).

Turns out, a friend is a Franklin buff and loaned me a couple of books about the expedition, including the one by the guy who did the autopsies on the 3 crewman. Seems the lead levels were too high to just come from the food. It appears the ships had a steam heating system installed and it was soldered with lead solder. This also provided hot water for cooking, tea, baths (when they could!). The think that it was a combination of the two sources of lead. It was (1980s) still a pretty major expedition to get there.

I just read a book on the USS Jeannette, which tried to find the North East Passage (entering from Alaska). I think it was "In the Kingdom of Ice". She also broke apart. Another interesting read is "Shackelton's Boat Journey", about him losing his ship in Antarctica and taking 2 years to get home in open boats.

 

[eveled]

Interesting that it plays into determining Canada's sovereignty over the North West passage, now that it has less ice.

Also amazing how clear that image is. It will be interesting to hear more details. Ed

 

[blackhawknj]

A mystery on a par with the loss of the USS Cyclops or George Mallory on Mount Everest.

 

[picketpin]

I rock climbed as a teen. After the Army my left arm/hand weren't much use for serious rock climbing so two of my brothers and I switched to Big Mountain ascents and I climbed into my 40s. They found Mallory's body in 1999. It appears that he fell the last vertical rock wall below the summit. They found his mummified body in the South Coll. There was a PBS special on it in about 2004.

A few really good books on Malory and the climb:

"Into the Silence" by Wade Davis is the account of finding his body
"Ghost of Everest" by Larry Johnson is about the climb as far as the 1924 expedition knew.
"The Lost Explore" by David Roberts is essentially a Mallory biography.
"Last Climb is a record/history of the 1924 climb, the 1922 scouiting trip plus the various theories about his death/disappearance

After seeing the Franklin NOVA special I bought a few books:
"Frozen in Time" by Owen Beattle is the expedition that recovered the bodies and did the forensics on them.
"Franklin: Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation" by Andrew Lambert is about his two previous expeditions t the Arctic and the final voyage.
"Resolute" by Martin Sandler is the last NW passage trip .

Three really good books on Shakleton:
"The Endurance" by Caroline Alexander is about his attempt to cross Antarctica and the voyage of the Endurance and their survival.
"Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage" by Alfred Lansing is the xpedition but also his previous trips.
"Shackleton's Forgotten Men" by Leonard Bickle is about the guys that crossed the Ross Ice shelf from the west to establish the supply depots that Shackleton planned on using once he reached the pole to finish e crossin, A bunch died in the effort. There's a NOVA special out there some where on it. They did a bunch of climate studies with ice cores and basically Shackleton's expedition including the supply depots was attempted in the coldest period in over 200 years. The meteorologist for the expedition spent the rest of his life trying to figure out what went wrong and postulated it. Modern science confirmed it.

The first reports were they had found the ENDURANCE but they have backed off that a bit. It may be the second ship. Legal scholars are skeptical that Canad will prevail. Sure it's their history but Franklin was a British citizen, the expedition was funded by The Royal Geographic Society and Canada was a British territory at the time. The Brits did relinquish all salvage and archaeological claim to the ship they found to the Canadians.

The fascinating par of the Nova special for me was that the Inuit still had an oral history of finding survivors trying to get to Hudsons Bay and trying to help. But they were "Crazy" and the Inuit found out they had resorted to cannibalism and fled in fear lest they be killed and eaten. The dementia might be explained by the heavy metal/lead poisoning from the cans.. According to the Inuit the last they saw he survivors, 17 guys they were headed south, draggin to sledges trying to reach the nearest settlement 350+ miles away. Heck as the ice/Arctic melts they may eventually find them.

The failed Scoot attempt at the South Pole is another one of those Age of Exploration tragedies. Siberian ponies, gasoline sledges and inexperienced guys that were chosen because they wouldn't question Scott. Raul Almudson got there first because they skied, had dog teams, ate the dogs and did a fast in and out. Scotts expedition ended up man hauling a 1200 pound sledge and frozen to death on the way back whe they missed a supply depot in a storm. Just too much time and exposure to the elements.

The first coast to coast/south to north crossing of Australia was much the same. Very British, way to much "stuff" and when they got in trouble they refused to "Go native". They found a billabong and chased the aborigines off and then destroyed the fish traps ad tried to catch fish with a fishing pole. Everybody died except one guy that the aborigines found to sick to resist and they force fed him grubs and the stuff THEY ate and had for thousands of years, Go figure. I have that book and the Aussie movie that caused me to buy it. I'll post titles. (just thought of that one)

RWT

 

[Thumbcocker]

Almundson also used fur clothing instead of more "modern" fabrics.