Parks Canada - The Franklin Expedition - The Franklin Expedition The Franklin Expedition The Franklin Expedition In 1845, explorer Sir John Franklin set sail from England with two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, in search of a Northwest Passage across what is now Canada's Arctic. The ships and crews vanished and dozens of search expeditions set sail to try to find them. A breakthrough was made in September 2014 when an expedition led by Parks Canada discovered the wreck of HMS Erebus, in the south of Victoria Island in Nunavut. A second breakthrough happened in September 2016, when HMS Terror was found in Terror Bay, further north. These expeditions brought together the Government of Canada as well as public, private and non-profit organizations. The use of state-of-the-art technology, Inuit knowledge and oral testimony made these historic discoveries possible. Explore this section to learn about Sir John Franklin’s 1845 Expedition. Follow the ongoing work of Parks Canada and our partners as we explore the wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Follow us on Twitter @PCArchaeology Searches and finds Get the inside scoop on Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team's searches and finds surrounding Sir John Franklin's historical expedition in the heart of the Canadian Arctic. Visit the Searches and finds section . Explore: photos and videos Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team and partners have recorded every step of their missions in the Arctic in the search for Sir John Franklin’s expedition. Take a look: Franklin expedition ship found in Arctic ID'd as HMS Erebus - Politics - CBC News Franklin expedition ship found in Arctic ID'd as HMS Erebus HMS Erebus believed to be the ship on which Sir John Franklin died Key moments in Franklin discovery 2:20 Related Stories The wrecked Franklin expedition ship found last month in the Arctic has been identified as HMS Erebus. Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed the news Wednesday in the House of Commons. "I am delighted to confirm that we have identified which ship from the Franklin expedition has been found. It is in fact the HMS Erebus," Harper said in response to a question from Conservative Yukon MP Ryan Leef.

Harper noted the discovery has been of "interest to Canadians across the country and people around the world." The ship from the Franklin expedition discovered on the Arctic sea bed in early September has been identified as HMS Erebus. (Parks Canada/Canadian Press) Two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, were part of Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition in 1845 to find the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to Asia. The ships disappeared after they became locked in ice in 1846 and were missing for more than a century and a half until last month's discovery by a group of public-private searchers led by Parks Canada. It was not known until now which of the two ships had been found. Franklin commanded the expedition from the Erebus and is believed to have been on the ship when he died. The wreck of HMS Terror has not yet been found. Underwater archeologists confirm identity Parks Canada underwater archeologists have been conducting dives at the site of the wreck since the discovery was made. In a release, the Prime Minister's Office said the confirmation of the ship's identity was made Sept.

30 by those Parks Canada scientists, following a "meticulous review of data and artifacts" from the seabed and using high-resolution photo and video along with sonar measurements. Ryan Harris, a senior underwater archeologist with Parks Canada and the lead on the project, was the first to venture down to the wreck along with his colleague Jonathan Moore. "Without a doubt it is the most extraordinary shipwreck I've ever had the privilege of diving on," Harris told CBC News on Parliament Hill Wednesday. Harris said he was able to drop down between the exposed beams of the wreck and "peer around" some of the interior, including the crew's mess. The pair could see below decks through old skylights and other openings but did not penetrate the interior of the ship. "Most of our investigations have been external to this point in time," he said. Parks Canada two-man teams conducted seven dives in all for about 12 hours of investigation so far, Harris said. Where is Franklin? One question on many observers' minds is whether Franklin's body might be found on the wreck. It is not known whether Franklin perished on board or was given some kind of burial at sea before his men abandoned ship.

"We do know that he passed away in June of 1847, but the terse note left by the crew after they deserted the ships in Victoria Strait didn't say what happened and why he died, but I suppose anything is possible," Harris said. "There are all kinds of suggestions that he may have been buried on shore, perhaps buried at sea, or perhaps he is still on the ship somewhere. Hopefully archeological investigations will be able to identify the answer to that question in the years to come." The last members of the Franklin expedition are believed to have faced starvation, disease and possibly cannibalism before their deaths in the Arctic. The government's partners in the search for Franklin's ships this summer included Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Royal Canadian Navy, Defence Research and Development Canada, Environment Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, as well as the governments of Nunavut and Great Britain.

With files from Evan Solomon and Valerie Boyer The wreck of the Erebus – HeritageDaily – Heritage & Archaeology News Send email Mail When Sir John Franklin and more than 100 sailors from the British Navy set sail in 1845 aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to discover a Northwest Passage, they had no idea that not one of them would live to tell the story of the expedition. Now, Parks Canada archeologists, in partnership with Inuit communities in the Northwest Territories, have made a start at piecing together their tale, thanks to the 2014 discovery of the wreck of the Erebus. Jonathan Moore, a Parks Canada senior underwater archeologist, shared some of the excitement and mystery of the search for remains of the Franklin Expedition with the U of T Mississauga community on Feb. 9 at the Chemical and Physical Sciences Colloquium, held in the UTM Instructional Centre. Credit : University of Toronto Mississauga A bit of the history of the doomed expedition was known before Parks Canada began its quest, thanks to Inuit stories told to the British explorer, Dr.

John Rae, in 1854, and a search launched by Lady Jane Franklin, wife of Sir John, in 1859. The latter search located a cairn on Fort William Island with the message that the two ships had been trapped in the ice for about 18 months, during which time Franklin and 23 crew members died. The remaining crew members attempted to make their way south overland, but none survived. The message gave some idea of the location of the ships. The Inuit had attempted to salvage the ships, but they sunk before the salvage was finished. Parks Canada began a serious search for the lost ships in 2008, using both the crew’s information and Inuit testimony as guides. Crews worked in vain for almost six years, but in September 2014, Moore was one of the four people aboard a small exploration ship that picked up the sonar image of a large object sitting underwater off the coast of Ugjulik, NWT. “There was jubilation and high-fiving,” Moore said.

“We knew within a couple of minutes of seeing the sonar image that we had either the Erebus or the Terror, because the dimensions matched.” The exploration team made 14 dives to the wreck to explore and confirm its identity. “I stumbled over the ship’s bell in my first dive, and my eyes pretty much popped out of my head underwater,” Moore said. The bell was engraved with the date of the expedition, 1845. A Canadian Hydrographic three-dimensional survey of the wreck has since enabled Parks Canada to match it with the original plans for the Erebus. Since the initial dives, Parks Canada crews have made two additional expeditions to the site, which is now protected as part of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site, including an April visit that required them to carve a hole in the two-metre thick ice to allow them to visit the wreck. “The area was frozen over, so we established an ice camp and slept in tents right over the wreck,” Moore said. Working with Inuit collaborators and other partners, Moore and his colleagues have been able to raise artifacts such as a cannon for conservation. Moore says, “it is early days yet,” for research into the Erebus.

Divers have cleared massive amounts of kelp from the wreck and have mapped some of the lower deck. Artifacts are being researched and analyzed, and the search for the Erebus’ sister ship, the Terror, will continue. He has high hopes that the Terror will be found and that one of the ships will yield some of the expedition’s secrets in the form of diaries or journals preserved by the cold water. There are many more secrets to uncover, and the final story of the Franklin Expedition is a long way from being written. Underwater archaeologists explore the wreck of the Erebus Underwater archaeologists explore the wreck of the Erebus February 11, 2016 by Elaine Smith Credit: Parks Canada When Sir John Franklin and more than 100 sailors from the British Navy set sail in 1845 aboard the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to discover a Northwest Passage, they had no idea that not one of them would live to tell the story of the expedition. Now, Parks Canada archeologists, in partnership with Inuit communities in the Northwest Territories, have made a start at piecing together their tale, thanks to the 2014 discovery of the wreck of the Erebus.

Jonathan Moore, a Parks Canada senior underwater archeologist, shared some of the excitement and mystery of the search for remains of the Franklin Expedition with the U of T Mississauga community on Feb. 9 at the Chemical and Physical Sciences Colloquium, held in the UTM Instructional Centre. A bit of the history of the doomed expedition was known before Parks Canada began its quest, thanks to Inuit stories told to the British explorer, Dr. John Rae, in 1854, and a search launched by Lady Jane Franklin, wife of Sir John, in 1859. The latter search located a cairn on Fort William Island with the message that the two ships had been trapped in the ice for about 18 months, during which time Franklin and 23 crew members died. The remaining crew members attempted to make their way south overland, but none survived. The message gave some idea of the location of the ships. The Inuit had attempted to salvage the ships, but they sunk before the salvage was finished. Parks Canada began a serious search for the lost ships in 2008, using both the crew's information and Inuit testimony as guides.

Crews worked in vain for almost six years, but in September 2014, Moore was one of the four people aboard a small exploration ship that picked up the sonar image of a large object sitting underwater off the coast of Ugjulik, NWT. Credit: Parks Canada "There was jubilation and high-fiving," Moore said. "We knew within a couple of minutes of seeing the sonar image that we had either the Erebus or the Terror, because the dimensions matched." The exploration team made 14 dives to the wreck to explore and confirm its identity. "I stumbled over the ship's bell in my first dive, and my eyes pretty much popped out of my head underwater," Moore said. The bell was engraved with the date of the expedition, 1845. A Canadian Hydrographic three-dimensional survey of the wreck has since enabled Parks Canada to match it with the original plans for the Erebus. Since the initial dives, Parks Canada crews have made two additional expeditions to the site, which is now protected as part of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site, including an April visit that required them to carve a hole in the two-metre thick ice to allow them to visit the wreck.

"The area was frozen over, so we established an ice camp and slept in tents right over the wreck," Moore said. Working with Inuit collaborators and other partners, Moore and his colleagues have been able to raise artifacts such as a cannon for conservation. Moore says, "it is early days yet," for research into the Erebus. Divers have cleared massive amounts of kelp from the wreck and have mapped some of the lower deck. Artifacts are being researched and analyzed, and the search for the Erebus' sister ship, the Terror, will continue. He has high hopes that the Terror will be found and that one of the ships will yield some of the expedition's secrets in the form of diaries or journals preserved by the cold water. There are many more secrets to uncover, and the final story of the Franklin Expedition is a long way from being written. Sir John Franklin: Fabled Arctic ship found - BBC News BBC News Sir John Franklin: Fabled Arctic ship found 9 September 2014 Read more about sharing.

Close share panel Media captionBBC's Alpa Patel: "the mission set sail in high spirits and hope but contact was lost two years later" One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago has been found, Canada's prime minister says. Stephen Harper said it was unclear which ship had been found, but photo evidence confirmed it was one of them. Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration. The Canadian government began searching for Franklin's ships in 2008 as part of a strategy to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which has recently become accessible to shipping because of melting Arctic ice. Expedition sonar images from the waters of Victoria Strait, just off King William Island, clearly show the wreckage of a ship on the ocean floor. "I am delighted to announce that this year's Victoria Strait expedition has solved one of Canada's greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.

"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum - or wind in our sails - necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sir John Franklin and his crew were captured in this 1847 painting by W Turner Smith called The End In Sight Image copyright Getty Images Image caption HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, as they appeared in Illustrated London News The find has been described as "the biggest archaeological discovery the world has seen since the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb almost 100 years ago" by a British archaeologist, William Battersby, who has written extensively about the Lincolnshire explorer's expedition. "From the images it is clear that a huge amount of evidence will be preserved from the expedition, possibly even including the remains of the men and maybe, just possibly, some of their photographs," he said. The loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which was built in Topsham, Devon, prompted one of largest searches in history, running from 1848 to 1859. The mystery has gripped people for generations, in part because no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew.

Experts believe the ships were lost when they became locked in the ice near King William Island and that the crews abandoned them in a hopeless bid to reach safety. Reports at the time from local Inuits say the men, desperate for food, resorted to cannibalism before they died. Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A neighbourhood in Winnipeg, Canada, is named Sir John Franklin In total more than 50 expeditions joined the search. Three bodies discovered over a century later in the 1980s were found to have a high lead content and to this day, many people believe the 129 crew members were poisoned by leaking lead in their poorly soldered tin cans. More recent research suggests the canned food supplied to Franklin was not acidic enough for that to happen and the lead was more likely to have come from the internal pipe system on the ships. The search resulted in the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago.

The discovery of Franklin's vessels is considered one of the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology. A team of Canadian divers and archaeologists has been trying to find the ships since 2008. Image copyright AP Image caption HMCS Kingston has been involved in the search Image copyright Parks Canada Arctic search renewed for Erebus and Terror, lost ships of Franklin expedition | Toronto Star Canada Arctic search renewed for Erebus and Terror, lost ships of Franklin expedition New search to be launched for Franklin’s ships Erebus and Terror, which were trapped in ice in 1845 expedition to find Northwest Passage. HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, shown in this illustration, were lost on the ill-fated Franklin expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1845. (Bettmann / CORBIS) By Bruce Campion-SmithOttawa Bureau chief Thu., Aug. 23, 2012 CAMBRIDGE BAY, NUNAVUT—Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated ships have eluded countless searches since disappearing in Canada’s Arctic 167 years ago. But a renewed quest has sparked hopes the hunt might finally be over.

A private-public team is launching a new attempt to locate HMS Erebus and HMS Terror from Franklin’s tragic 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All 129 crew members perished. The team, which is likely to sail this week on what could be a four- to six-seek effort, hopes searches of past years have narrowed the possible locations of the ships, which sank after being trapped in ice. Each year, at least two or three private expeditions set off in hope of solving the Franklin mystery, said John Geiger, co-author of Franklin research book Frozen in Time and president of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Article Continued Below “This is one of the world’s great unsolved mysteries in many respects,” Geiger said. “If they do make the discovery, it’s going to be a global story with Titanic levels of interest.” Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted the pull of the 19th century expedition during a visit to this hamlet on the Northwest Passage. “Why do we search for the Franklin? The wreckage of the Franklin expedition is a national historic site designated some time ago — it is the only undiscovered national historic site, we feel an obligation to discover it,” Harper told reporters during a stop here.

“It is a historic and iconic in our country’s history. That is why people still write songs about it and essays about it.” The expedition will search for the vessels in two areas — the region of the Victoria Strait and Alexandra Strait, and near O’Reilly Island, west of the Adelaide peninsula, where Inuit stories refer to one of the wrecks. As in past years, the search will be high-tech, using side-scan sonar as well as airborne technology and a torpedo-shaped underwater vehicle from University of Victoria’s ocean technology lab, which was airlifted to the Arctic Thursday. It will sweep the sea floor with sonar, map the area and look for clues of a man-made structure, lab director Dr. Colin Bradley said. Unseen hazards and uncertain weather conditions make the project risky, but with careful planning it could work, he said. “If we don’t find anything, we’ll be back next year.” While contributing less than $500,000 to the search over the past four years the government has been able to simultaneously reinforce Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic, and valuable research and ocean surveys have been conducted.

The search is “relatively inexpensive” because private partners keen to find the Franklin expedition “are determined to put their own money into it,” Harper said. The federal government is contributing $275,000 to the new expedition, with other costs being picked up by a variety of private partners. Franklin and two Royal Navy ships sailed from England on May 19, 1845 with the goal of crossing to the Pacific Ocean via the Northwest Passage. The expedition carried enough provisions to last three years. But apart from a chance meeting with whaling ships that August and occasional encounters with the Inuit, the crew were never seen alive again despite an extensive search effort. A message found in a cairn in 1859 on Victory Point, King William Island, revealed both ships became trapped in ice in late 1846 and were stuck for 18 months. After Franklin and 23 others died aboard the trapped ships, the remaining sailors took their chances trying to trek back to land. They did not survive. The latest search appears to be the most serious government attempt to locate the ships, Geiger said — he’d be surprised if the team didn’t find one.

Canada is asserting its globally disputed jurisdiction over the region, Geiger said, at a time there is a “resource rush” for the area’s minerals and amid suggestions the Northwest Passage could become a trading route. “It’s not a huge cost, but it sends a very important message to Canadians and globally that Canada takes an interest in the Northwest Passage and these waters,” he said. Harper stopped by the research vessel leading this year’s search effort, which could continue for two more years if nothing is found. “I told the crew of the boat, I’m sure some day they are going to come around the bend and there’s going to be the ship and there’s going to be the body of Franklin right on the wheel and they’re going to find him right there waiting all this time,” he said. Read more about: The Mysteries of the Franklin Expedition(Franklin Expedition) The Mysteries of the Franklin Expedition Welcome. In 1845, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set sail from England under the command of Sir John Franklin. Their mission: to explore the Canadian Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage, a cheaper and safer route for trading goods, including silk and spices, with China.

The mission was also a scientific one: they were seeking a better understanding of geomagnetic science as they traveled near the earth’s northern magnetic pole. We do not know if they succeeded: both ships and the entire party of 129 men disappeared into the Canadian Arctic and never returned. The Franklin Mystery: Life and Death in the Arctic, gives you what you need – the real historical evidence left over from those terrible events - to find out why. The disappearance of Franklin`s Arctic Expedition immediately sparked one of the most extensive search efforts in world history. Thirty-two expeditions from Britain and the United States were engaged in the search for Franklin between 1847 and 1859. As grisly details about the expedition’s untimely end began to trickle in from these search and rescue operations, the public’s intrigue turned to horror. For the next 160 years people around the world have considered that evidence and pondered the fate of Franklin's men and their two ships. And it isn’t over. In 2010, the government of Canada launched a new search, using the latest underwater exploration technologies, for the missing ships, Erebus and Terror.

In 2014 the expedition led by Parks Canada succeeded in finding the wreck of HMS Erebus in the Queen Maud Gulf at the bottom of the ocean. This exciting new find offers the potential to answer many questions relating to the expedition in the years ahead. For the latest on this search visit The Mystery Continues page. There are other mysteries here. How could the best-equipped scientific mission from the world’s most technically advanced industrial country – and Franklin’s third trip to the Arctic – flounder? The Inuit, many of whom were in the immediate vicinity of Franklin’s ill-fated voyage at the time, thrived in that same Arctic environment, and had done so for thousand of years. The Franklin Mystery: Life and Death in the Arctic will provide you with a window on Inuit life, allowing you to explore not only the environments in which the members of the Franklin expedition died, but how and why Inuit have been able to live there successfully for so long. The Franklin Mystery: Life and Death in the Arctic invites you to explore the historical evidence about those tragic events, and come to your own conclusions about what happened, and why.

You will find here hundreds of pieces of evidence left over from the past and reproduced here in letters, diaries, memoirs, drawings, paintings and maps. There is new scientific evidence as well, ranging from data from underwater submarines to forensic evidence from the skeleton remains and the remarkable discovery of the remains of HMS Erebus in September 2014. You will also read Inuit oral history evidence from the nineteenth century. What role did their statements play in finding the remains of the Expedition? How did Inuit knowledge of the Arctic environment aid the searchers? Was it possible that they encountered Franklin’s men before their grim deaths? Freeze Frame » British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition 1845-1848 British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition 1845-1848 Summary The aim of the expedition was to search for a potential sea route through the Arctic’s northwest passage. Led by Sir John Franklin , 129 men sailed aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The ships became trapped in the ice and the men began a journey on foot; from here we do not know what happened to the men or to the ships.

Many search parties were sent to look for the men; they found some clues to what had happened, but questions still remain today as to their fate. Research parties still travel to the Arctic today to try and establish the fate of Franklin’s expedition. View stereoscopic photographs of British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition relics Please note the photographs for this expedition are forthcoming. The British Naval Northwest Passage Expedition (1845-1848), led by Sir John Franklin, was searching for a northwest passage in an unexplored region southwest of Barrow Strait. If a way through the ice could be found a shipping route could be established which would be much quicker than the trading routes. Sailing from London in May 1845, HMS Erebus (captained by Franklin) and HMS Terror (captained by Crozier ) were well equipped, with food for seven years, silver cutlery, and 1000 bound editions of Punch. They were last seen heading for Lancaster Sound by two whalers in northern Baffin Bay in late July 1845. After that, the expedition disappeared and Europeans never again saw Franklin. What happened to the 129 men and their ships is still a mystery.

In February 1847, when there was still no news from the expedition, James Clark Ross (who had originally been offered and turned down the command of the expedition) suggested to the British Admiralty that a search party should be sent to establish the fate of the expedition, in the hope of rescuing the men. However, the Admiralty were of the opinion that the expedition would still have enough supplies and so a rescue mission was not yet necessary. Finally, in the summer of 1848 when there was still no news of the expedition, the Admiralty decided to send a search party to establish whether there were any survivors. In the following ten years many ships were sent to the area to investigate the fate of Franklin and his men. Lady Jane Franklin, wife of Sir John, offered a £5000 reward and the British government £20,000 for the discovery and possible recovery of the expedition. During the course of many search expeditions the main facts regarding the route taken and final fate of the expedition were established. It is believed Franklin turned into Lancaster Sound, travelling west until he reached Cornwallis Island, where he steered into Peel Sound. The various rescue attempts took a similar journey.

However, when they came to Peel Sound they found it blocked by ice and impassable. It never occurred to them that at one point the Peel Sound entrance had been clear, as it had been when Franklin sailed through in an unusually warm season. Furthermore, as many of the search parties had a secondary goal to their mission, the desire to be the first to reach the North Pole, they tended to direct their rescue attempts northwards rather than southwards. Through the efforts of the many search parties that travelled to the region some details regarding the fate of the expedition were established. In 1850, at Beechy Island off Cornwallis Island the first winter quarters of Franklin’s expedition were found. Here remnants of a camp were discovered, including over 600 empty tin cans, and the graves of W. Braine, J. Hartnell, and J. Torrington. However, a message saying where the expedition had gone could not be found. Later, in 1854, when John Rae was commissioned to explore the region for the Hudson’s Bay Company, he met a group of Inuit who told him they had seen a large party of white men dragging a boat in the Pelly Bay and Repulse Bay areas.

From these Inuit Rae was able to purchase items which proved they had been in contact with the expedition. These included a small silver plate with ‘Sir John Franklin K.C.B’ engraved on it. However, Rae also brought back with him the news that the Inuit claimed starvation had caused the men on the expedition to resort to cannibalism. Such accusations against British naval men proved to be extremely controversial and whether the men did or did not resort to cannibalism is still hotly debated today. Sir John Franklin’s wife, Lady Jane Franklin, was not happy with Rae’s tale of cannibalism or the lack of documentation concerning the fate of the expedition. So, in 1857, Lady Jane commissioned an expedition using her own steam yacht Fox, commanded by Captain F.L. McClintock. He found remnants of the expedition scattered along the western shore of King William Island, including a sledge boat containing two skeletons and, most importantly in a cairn at Victory Point, a written record of the expedition’s fate. Here an original message left by Franklin saying all was well had been amended to show the situation was now the very opposite.

From this we now know that the expedition had wintered at Beechy Island between 1845-6. HMS Erebus and HMS Terror then sailed southwards to the entrance of Victoria Strait. Here, on 12 September 1846, the two vessels were beset in the ice north of King William Island. They spent two winters here between September 1846 and April 1848. Franklin died on 11 June 1847 (the document does not give the cause of death) and the command passed to Francis Crozier. Abandoning the two vessels on 22 April 1848, 105 survivors led by Crozier set out toward the Back River. Here the written record ends, Inuit accounts suggest that some of the survivors returned to the stricken ships, which sank at different times. It is thought some survivors may have lived as late as 1850. Eventually all perished from a combination of exposure, scurvy , and starvation. We shall never know exactly what happened to Franklin’s expedition but the mystery and controversy still holds a grip on our imagination today.

There have been a number of hypotheses to account for its disastrous outcome, but more than likely it was a combination of some of the following factors: Unusually warm weather at the start of the voyage allowed Franklin to sail into an area which was usually icebound, then unusually cold weather resulted in his vessels becoming frozen into the ice. The ships were too large for the depth of the channels and unable to withstand the impact of ice on the ship, causing them to be crushed and to sink. When leaving Beechy Island the expedition failed to leave a note which later search parties may have found. They also failed to mark their route with cairns and so search parties had no idea where they had gone. The Admiralty were far too slow to respond to the requests to send an initial search party. Travelling on a single escape route may have increased their chances of failure. They would have needed to feed the men from an area relatively poor in resources. This tactic also reduced the number of opportunities to raise the alarm. Scurvy was a huge problem for sailors in this period. The standard antiscorbutics of the time such as lemon or lime juice lost their effectiveness after a while.

Fresh meat was required to provide vitamin C, but there was not a source large enough for a big group of people in such a concentrated space. There is a possibility that the tin cans had been soldered with lead, resulting in lead poisoning from solder which had leached into their contents. From the items found alongside the bodies in the sledge boat it seems there was no insistence that the men travel as lightly as possible. This would have reduced the amount of energy required on the already weakened party. It is more than likely that several of these hypotheses jointly account for the terrible fate of the expedition. However, the expedition did unknowingly succeed in their aim. By discovering a channel of communication between known points in Barrow Strait and on the north coast, Franklin’s men had effectively discovered the Northwest Passage. Much of the early mapping of the northern coasts of Canada was achieved by the expeditions sent in search of Franklin. Most of the expedition’s documents remained missing and this encouraged some later searches, such as that led by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka of the US Army in 1878. The majority of Rae’s finds were given to the Admiralty by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

They were then donated to Greenwich Hospital for display in the Painted Hall in 1854. Initially, the McClintock material was displayed at the Royal United Services Museum in Whitehall. Lady Franklin thought the catalogue of the Franklin relics ‘a vulgar catchpenny publication’, but the exhibition was the sensation of its age. Timeline of events 1845: July, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set sail. 1845-6: HMS Erebus and HMS Terror winter at Beechy Island. 1846: The ships sail southwards to the entrance to Victoria Strait. 1846-8: The vessels become frozen in the ice north of King William Island and are forced to winter there. 1847: Ross offers to send a search party for the expedition; the Admiralty declines. 1847: 11 June, Franklin dies. Command passes to Crozier. 1848: 22 April, the 105 survivors abandon the ships and set off toward the Back River. 1848: Summer, the Admiralty decided to send their first search. 1850: The first winter quarters at Beechy Island are found.

1854: Rae meets with Inuit, from whom he buys items from the expedition. They also tell him stories of the survivors driven by starvation to cannibalism. 1857: Jane Franklin dispatches McClintock on the final search expedition. 1859: McClintock finds a sledge boat containing two skeletons and a strange selection of miscellaneous items. He also finds the cairn with the message that has been amended to tell of the death of Franklin. Further Information: Beattie, O. and Geiger, J. (1987) Frozen in Time: the Fate of the Franklin Expedition. Bloomsbury. Barr, W. (2007) Arctic Hell Ship: the Voyage of HMS Enterprise 1850-55. The University of Alberta Press. Cookman, S. (2000) Ice Blink: the Tragic Fate of Sir James Franklin’s Last Polar Expedition. John Wiley and Sons Inc. Sandler, M.W. (2006) Resolute. Sterling Publishing Company Ltd. New York. Savours, A. (1999) The Search for the North-West Passage. Chatham Publishing.

Woodman, D.C. (1995) Strangers Among Us. McGill-Queen’s University Press. Links The Scott Polar Research Institute has made a catalogue of it’s Polar Art Collection accessible online. The art collection includes portraits of Sir John Franklin and artworks from the Frankin search expedition. This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Arctic , British Naval Northwest Passage 1845-1848 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Photos: Bronze Bell Recovered from Arctic Shipwreck Photos: Bronze Bell Recovered from Arctic Shipwreck By Megan Gannon, Live Science Contributor | November 10, 2014 03:11pm ET MORE Underwater archaeologists were the first people in nearly 170 years to lay eyes on the HMS Erebus, a British ship that sank during an ill-fated exploration of the Canadian Arctic. The ship was one of two that went missing during John Franklin's infamous expedition to find a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The sunken vessel was discovered in September 2014 during a search led by Parks Canada. [ Read full story about the HMS Erebus shipwreck ] During a two-day investigation at the site of the wreck, divers took measurements and photographs of the ship. They also collected artifacts, including this bronze bell. Their findings proved that they were looking at the HMS Erebus, and not its sister ship, the HMS Terror. (Credit: Parks Canada) When in use, the bell would have been struck every half hour, day and night, not only to mark the time, but also to signal the crew's changing shifts, according to Parks Canada. The bell stopped ringing some time in 1846, when Franklin's expedition became trapped in ice. Here, Parks Canada's Ryan Harris (left) and Jonathan Moore (center) look at the bell with Government of Nunavut archaeologist Douglas Stenton (right). (Credit: Parks Canada) The bell clearly has the Royal Navy's broad arrow symbol, a stamp used to mark British ownership. (Credit: Parks Canada) The year 1845 is also embossed on the bell's surface, the year the expedition set sail.

(Credit: Parks Canada) "The bell of HMS Erebus provides a tangible and compelling connection to the Franklin ships and is an important part of naval and Canadian history," Leona Aglukkaq, Canada's Minister of the Environment, said in a statement. "The recovery of this important artifact is the crowning achievement for an incredibly successful 2014 search campaign that has captivated Canadians and the entire world." (Credit: Parks Canada) The wrecks of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror once had the joint distinction of being Canada's only undiscovered national historical site. This image shows the bell's interior. (Credit: Parks Canada)

Question: Who led the ill-fated expedition which set sail in 1845 in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror?
Answer: Sir John Franklin