![]() But they had enough supplies for about three years, and British expeditions were experienced at overwintering in the Arctic. They couldn’t rely on local people for meat, clothing, and oil, as other expeditions had. It was also, at times, breathtakingly beautiful, with dazzling colours and glowing skies.įranklin’s ship was trapped in the ice in a remote and desolate area, which Inuit rarely visited, calling it Tununiq, ‘the back of beyond’. The Arctic could be a place of freezing fog and heaving seas, and the expedition crews were sometimes at the mercy of the immense pressure of the sea-ice and the unpredictable behaviour of icebergs. The expeditions disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the. ![]() ![]() Unfamiliar wildlife might be glimpsed, such as narwhals (which were called ‘sea-unicorns’), and splashes of botanical life, including vivid yellow poppies. Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. Using these, we can come as close as we possibly can to understanding what the crews of Erebus and Terror might have seen and felt.Įxpeditions set off in the spring, so that they could get as far as possible before the winter, when their progress was halted. We don’t yet have any of the journals or logbooks that would have been written aboard ship.īut we do have lots of evidence from other sources about what the men might have gone through. Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition is a fascinating account of the Arctic explorations during the Heroic Age of Exploration of the 1800s, mostly by the British. Be warned, the book is pretty intense, so it is definitely not for children.The short answer is, we don’t know what life was really like. The Terror – by Dan Simmons (2007) – This is a riveting fictionalized version of the Franklin Expedition, incorporating elements of fantasy and horror. Also, the book has been updated to reflect some more recent findings regarding the expedition. I’ve included a few here.įrozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition – by Owen Beattie and John Geiger (1987) – While there have been quite a recent books about the Franklin Expedition, this was the best. His latest book, Finding Franklin: The Untold Story of a 165-Year Search, details the more than fifty modern search expeditions that have sought to solve the disappearance of Sir John Franklins ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition. There are many books and sites devoted to the Franklin Expedition. The book focuses on the dramatic events surrounding the Franklin Expedition of 1845-1848, led by Sir John Franklin, as well as the scientific work and forensic testing on the bodies of three perfectly preserved Victorian seamen 138 years after their deaths, solving the mysteries of the Franklin Expedition. Map courtesy of Smurftrooper – Own work, CC BY 4.0, Map showing the general route that Franklin and his ships – Erebus and Terror – took on their journey into the Arctic. Part 2 in our series examines the tragic fate of Franklin, his men and their ships – and the 170+ years of searching for clues to the expedition’s ultimate end. We then take the expedition to the Arctic – and into a morass of islands, ice, snow and danger. In part 1 of 2 of the Lost Franklin Expedition, we find out about Franklin, his crew, and the preparations for his historic journey. However, after heading into Lancaster Sound – the entrance to the Passage – neither ship would be seen again. The ships and crew were the finest England had to offer. In 1845, Sir John Franklin lead two ships into the Arctic in search of the fabled Northwest Passage.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |