1845 Franklin expedition: the RN hunt for the NW passage

[Liz]

"A few snippets of copper may be a vital clue towards solving one of Arctic exploration's most haunting mysteries: what happened to Sir John Franklin's two superbly equipped ships when he and all 150 members of his expedition died in the search for the North-West Passage more than 160 years ago?

The fate of the 1845 expedition haunted Victorian imagination, and accounts suggesting some of his starving men prolonged their lives by cannibalism destroyed the reputation of those sent to find them..."

I'll be posting some more info and questions about the expedition soon, but thought I'd post this snippet now as a leading archaeologist will be speaking on his 30-year hunt for the lost ships tomorrow Friday 30 October 2009 at the UK's National Maritime Museum in Greenwich (booking & payment is required).

If (like me) you can't make it, the museum's exhibition on the North-West passage runs until 3 January 2010 and you'll find an interview with the archaeologist in question here http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/oct/28/john-franklin-expedition-robert-grenier/print.

[QSAMIKE]

Hello Liz.....

Found the Guardian article quite interesting..... After working in the High Arctic Islands for 3 1/2 years I remember we would go for walks in the "summer" along the shoreline and inland when we had some time off..... Which was not much...... I remember finding a Victorian Food Cash and in one place a barrel of hand made nails, the wood had rotted away and the nails were all rusted together in the shape of the barrel..... Often thought No Trees why Nails...... We were not allowed to take anything away with us but had to report anyfinds to the Govt. of Canada......

Mike

[roconn]

Hi Liz & QSAMike:

In my travels around the North in the 70's and 80's I did come across an elderly retired Catholic brother (forget which Order) who was an enthusiastic but quite gifted historian who had put together an astounding collection of artifacts of Northern residents and explorers & was later housed in Churchill . Amongst the trove he had large red painted can of about (estimated) 5lbs weight of 'Spiced Beef' and cloth from the Franklin Expedition rescue missions. These items had been part of a cache left by the rescuers. The bolt of cloth was in fact a lighter shade of blue than I would have guessed the RN normally wore - it was almost a sky blue not the darker shade Navy Blue of today.

M'Clintock's rescue expedition had a 2 wheeled cart in which they had filled with supplies and was drawn by the sailors themselves -- even 150 years later the ruts from the cart wheels were still clearly evident in the tundra.

McMaster University in Hamilton Ont had just recently performed toxicity testing on a recovered can of Beef Cheek soup from Franklin's ill-starred venture and the lead levels were astronomical which lends further authority to Owen Beattie's earlier claim of systemic lead poisoning amongst the crew which led to their demise.

regards

Pat O'Connell

[Liz]

Hi all

Found some other useful stuff on the NMM website.

Here's a rare portrait of one of the missing men - Assistant Surgeon Alexander McDonald of HMS Terror, whose prize medal from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh was found in Inuit possession by the 1857-59 expedition: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/blogs/collections/2008/12/new_acquisition_a_portrait_of.html

Here's some historic photos taken by members of the 1850s expeditions from an exhibition that has, alas, closed:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/past/freeze-frame.

You can also search the museum's collection of Franklin relics by expedition (and they list 10 expeditions in all). The direct link for this is:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explore/index.cfm/category/franklinrelics.

Cheers,

Liz

[ED, in Los Angeles]

Modern day researchers my still be looking for the 'Franklin', But they have just discovered one of the search vessels from the 1850 Collinson expedition. It is The ship 'HMS Investigator' and it lies in just over 30 feet of water and is well preserved, although the rigging has been sheared off by ice floes. Three graves were discovered on land near the ship. The water is so clear that the ships individual timbers and outline are visable. The ship set sail on 1850 and was abandoned in the ice in 1853.
The wreck took 15 minures to find, since almost all the crew were saved and official accounts were recorded, it's location was known. What is more important is the fact that the ship was a treasure trove to the Inuit Eskimo that stripped the ship and thus giving them metal, wood, and other objects that forever would re-shape their society and culture.
No pictures yet, the camera will be sent down next.
Just Google HMS Investigator and it will pop up with all the news, as this news was Released July 28, 2010.