Episode 160: Arctic Misadventure Time (featuring Diamanda Hagan)
This time we are joined by YouTube presenter Diamanda Hagan to tell the story of Sir John Franklin; three time arctic explorer, two time arctic loser. A 181 year old mystery with some answers, but even more questions. Learn what happens when colonial overconfidence meets the indifference of nature. It's a true story, and that's what is truly haunting.
Special Thanks to Diamanda Hagan for being a guest on this episode of Least Haunted. You can find her stuff on youtube. Including her videos on Polar Expeditions!
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Enjoy the images and videos below! (Also content warning there is one image of the three exhumed bodies)
Sir John Franklin. 1786-1847. British Royal Naval Officer, Napoleonic Wars and War of 1812 veteran, colonial governor, and most famously- Arctic explorer.
He became a national hero after his failed 1819-1823 Coppermine River Overland Expedition to the Arctic. His goal was to walk overland from The Hudson Bay to the Coppermine River (an almost 2000 mile hike), then to sail down the river to where it met the arctic ocean. He was then to walk along the coast east until he reached the Hudson Bay again.
It did not go well… Every step of the journey was fraught with misfortune and failure. Dine chief Akaitcho warned Franklin repeatedly of his doomed plan. However, Franklin disregarded Akaitcho's expert opinion because the indigenous man, "Lacked British grit." (Image is of Dine Chief Akaitcho and child)
In the end, the expedition became a struggle for survival as the arctic winter set in. Although they made it to the arctic ocean, they only covered approximately 500 miles of the coast eastward before turning around. In the end, the expedition became a struggle for survival as the arctic winter set in. Of the 22 men who set out for the last leg of the expedition, only 11 survived. The survivors split into two smaller groups based on remaining physical strength. They were starving but this point. Franklin pushed forward leaving his three fellow officers behind to wait rescue. Living off of boiled lichen and their own shoes the men struggled to survive. In the camp that Franklin left behind cannibalism and murder occurred. 11 men survived the ordeal thanks to the intervention of the Dine and Akaitcho who came to Franklin's rescue. Even though he failed, when he returned home he received a hero's welcome and became affectionately known as, "The Man Who Ate His Own Shoes." Franklin would return to the Canadian Arctic again for a second overland expedition. This one was actually successful. Trekking overland to the Mackenzie River, then sailing down it to the Arctic Coast and moving westward this time to the north of Alaska. No shoes were eaten.
The Arctic explorations were an attempt to locate and map the fabled North-West Passage. A hypothesized sea route over the top of North America that could be a short cut from Europe to Asia. After then end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy had approximately 145,000 enlisted men. But the crown did not have the funds to support such a large navy during peace time. So the number of men was cut to around 45,000. And those that remained had to be kept busy. One such way was to throw men at the problem of the Northwest Passage.
To this end, in 1845 Sir John Franklin was tasked with a new expedition. This time by sea. He would take two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, two retrofitted heavy bomb ships (both were present at the Battle of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812), and with 135 men, sail in search of the Northwest Passage. The ships were equipped with the latest in technology. Coal powered steam engines and retractable propellers to assist the sails in propulsion, diving suits to go under the water and repair said retractable propellers, state of the art scientific instruments, over 1,000 books, musical instruments to entertain the crew (including a player piano), and over 33,000 pounds of tinned food. In theory they had enough supplies to last three years.
Second in Command was Francis Crozier (1796-ca. 1848) A veteran of Antarctic exploration, he had previously sailed with James Clark Ross to Antarctica. He had tons of polar experience. And if not for his Irish heritage, and the fact that he was a commoner, he probably would have been the man in charge. He was after all the most qualified. He had never eaten his own shoes...
Third in command, and captain of the Erebus for the expedition was James Fitzjames (27 July 1813 – c. May 1848). A noble bastard, he had a penchant for acts of daring do, and was pretty popular with his men. He however had no arctic experience.
In 1845 both ships were last seen by whalers as they sailed off into Baffin Bay. What followed is one of the Arctic's most enduring mysteries. As one historian put it, "This is the equivalent of the Apollo 11 mission going around the dark side of the moon, and never returning." Although actually it would be like if two Apollo 11 missions disappeared, since there were two ships… After two years had gone by with no word from the expedition, Franklin's wife, Lady Jane Franklin, ( 1791 – 1875), beseeched the admiralty to go in search of the missing expedition. However as only two years had gone by of the expected three, there was little hurry by the Navy. This was in 1847, and as we now know, by this point it was already too late.
By 1850, it was clear that something had gone disastrously wrong. And a search was officially begun.
In 1850, on a small island west of Baffin Bay called, Beechey Island, three wooden grave markers and evidence of a camp were discovered. This was the first evidence of the Franklin expedition. The graves belonged to three men: John Torrington, John Hartnell, and William Braine.
William Hartnell was exhumed and it was found that an autopsy had been performed on him at the time of his death. 134 years later these three graves would be exhumed once again, and the bodies would be found in excellent condition. Autopsies were performed including x-rays and tissue samples being collected. The cause of death was ruled to be either tuberculosis or pneumonia. However, all three men had levels of lead in their bodies 10x higher than a living person should have. Had the Franklin Expedition died from lead poisoning from their tinned food? The cans were sealed with lead solder…
Dozens of expeditions went in search of the Franklin expedition and the two missing ships. And evidence did start to turn up thanks in part to local Inuit peoples. Various artifacts belonging to the crew were found in possession of Inuits, who claimed to have found them amongst cannibalized corpses of white men. Scottish born explorer John Rae (1813-1893) was one explorer in search of Franklin. He recovered artifacts from the Inuit, and bothered to listen to them and their stories about what had happened to the men. Their stories painted a grim picture of starving sick men freezing to death in the ice, resorting to "The Last Resource" i.e. cannibalism. However when he returned home with his findings, British admiralty, society, and most importantly Lady Jane Franklin refused to believe. Instead creating a smear campaign of Rae, and accusing the Inuit of murdering and cannibalizing the crew themselves.
In 1859, further evidence was found of the expedition in the form of a message cairn on King Williams Island (400 miles south of Beechey Island) at a place called Victory Point.
It contained a log entry detailing the condition of the expedition in 1847, where all was reported as being well. However at a later date the page had been added to with a more dire update. In the update it is revealed that Franklin has died, as have 9 officers and 11 enlisted men. Crozier or Fitzjames seem to be in charge. They have been stuck in the ice for almost 2 years, and some of them men plan to walk south to reach Back's Fish River.
Subsequent searched would find human bones (with evidence of butchering, thus vindicating Rae and the Inuit oral tradition). this evidence would include a lifeboat converted into a sledge loaded up with an assortment of items and two human skeletons. However no sign of the Terror or Erebus would be found. The trail would go cold until 2014… Working with local Inuit and listening to their oral traditions, the wreck of HMS Erebus was discovered in shallow water in the aptly named Erebus Bay on the southern end of King Williams Island in 2014.
Inuit knowledge, modern technology and the perseverance of the search team led to this breakthrough discovery in September 2014.
And in 2016 the Terror was also located in slightly deeper water in a bay along the Canadian mainland south of King William's Island. Exactly where Inuits had been telling searchers to look for decades. Both ships are very well preserved, however the Terror is in better shape, possibly owing to it's greater depth. The Erebus shows signs that it was possibly crushed by the ice prior to sinking. Although the ships have been found, there is still so much left unanswered. But as the ice thaws due to global warming more evidence will be found.
Today the Northwest Passage is increasingly ice free year round. And it is being explored more for possible future use as a shipping lane. This has also led to territorial disputes. The Canadian Government considers it internal waters. The United States claims it is international water. It seems the colonial ambitions of world powers that originally lead to The Franklin Expedition are still present.
