This blog is about one of the many events and disasters in history that I have found interesting. I think I will start blogging as it seems I haven't used this in years. Oh well life happens.
This is about the ill fated Franklin expedition to discover the Northwest Passage. Why anyone would want to go to a cold dreary place is beyond me yet here we are.....(don't mind me i hate the cold and dread our winters let alone go way up there. They did it to discover and Science .I can respect that.
The British Royal Navy put together an expedition for 1845 to sail two ships HMS Erebus & HMS Terror to try to discover the Northwest Passage way up in no where's land in northern Canada. To lead the expedition they recruited John Franklin & James Fitjames to command the Erebus & Francis R. Crozier to command the Terror. What a hell of a name for a ship..... The Terror. Hmmm pre cursor perhaps? Would you sail on Titanic 2 if they created one? Hell no. We all know what happened to the first one. I guess I'm a tad superstitious about names or I have a really twisted sense of humor...you decide.
Alright enough of my non sense moving on.....
The ship became trapped in ice 1846ish and we all know how ice sucks so yeah about that They spent several years on the ships before starting the death march in 1848. Franklin died early on in 1847 and there was a few deaths prior in 1846 due to illness. That will be brought up later. Crozier became 1st in Command after Franklin passed and they started heading south I guess going for the Back River or looking for hunting grounds where more game could be found either way it didn't end well. A note left in a Cairn at Victory Point said they were heading south and later added Franklin died in 1847 as well as some officers/crew. Over time the people died off of disease or starvation then some resorted to cannibalism. Some marks on bones tested in the 1990s indicated cut marks resulting from cannibalism. Now who all died & when other than Franklin and those I mentioned that died earlier is up in the air and can only be speculated. All is known is everyone was probably dead by 1851 or the 1850s if that long.
John Franklins wife Jane pushed the Navy as well as raised funds for several expeditions to find Franklin & survivors or evidence. I admire her persistence but it failed to find any living. In the 1850s the Victory Point note was found and she found out her husband has passed. During expeditions various stuff was found from canned items to skeletal remains & skulls. RIP to all the men.
John Franklin was born in April 1786 in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England. He fought in a few wars and was an explorer during several expeditions including another failed expedition where he had gained the name the Man who ate his boots during the Coppermine Expedition of 1819. He had married twice the first died then in 1828 he married Jane Griffin. He died June 11, 1847 on King William Island, Northwestern Territory, Canada.
Now we focus on the second in command of the HMS Erebus James Fitsjames.
James Fitzjames was born July 27,1813 in London and was an illegitimate son of a man with ties to the Navy. He was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer. After Franklin died in 1847 he became second in command after Francis Crozier took over. All disappearing in April of 1848.
In September of 2024 it was announced his remains had been found & identified by DNA testing. His bones showed signs of cut marks on jaw and other bones indicating cannibalism. So far he is the highest ranking member to be found & identified. The drawing below I did myself as I'm somewhat of an artist. I'm more into creating Cartoonish characters and a few comics for humor but found this interesting enough to try my hand at realistic art. Ill improve in time. My Dad was the true artist that could draw realistic stuff. I more taught myself by drawing stupid comical pictures while not paying attention in school. I still passed the classes ha-ha. I can listen better if I'm drawing or something other wise I space out or doze off. Its also a coping skill for depression.
I tried to do a video documentary of this expedition for Youtube but between Whiskers the cat hijacking the laptop and me messing up talking due to anxiety issues that didnt turn out great. Ugh. Now back to the expedition and the poor men.
Captain of the HMS Terror:
Francis R. Crozier:
Francis was a Irish officer of the Royal Navy & explorer that has a list of expeditions and achievements overlooked. He's personally my favorite. He had expeditions from the Artic
and Antartica. He was recruited as the Captain to the HMS Terror in 1845 and the Erebus & Terror drifted off and vanished into history. He was born in Banbridge, Ireland in October of 1796 and vanished in April 1848. He nor Franklin has been found yet.
There is a statue of Crozier in his hometown of Banbridge, Ireland.
I suppose now we come to the more gruesome stuff as if the thought of cannibalism wasn't a horror enough to think about. On Beechy Island three graves of the Franklin Expedition was found with headstones. A fourth body was from another expedition from other ship. The three Franklin bodies of John Torrington (Royal Navy Stoker), William Braine (Royal Marine Pvt) and John Hartnell (seaman) were exhumed and tested for causes of death in 1984. Alot of speculation of lead in the canned foods caused it but its not the case though it certainly didn't help matters.
Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Scurvy played big roles. They had coffins fashioned and they were buried off Beechy Island shore. This was well before all the madness to come and starvation. I suppose they were the lucky ones not to have to endure hyperthermia, starvation, body parts getting gang green from frost bite and the cannibalism stuff. They still need to be remembered as human beings regardless of a brief short life.
John Torrington: died in Jan 1846
Braine: died April 1846
Hartnell: died January 1846
Those bodies and skulls and bones have been found in many areas King William Island especially and Starvation Cove. Artifacts have survived and is in museums and stuff still remain up there scattered about.
Now the HMS Erebus was the first one to sink over time and also the first one of the two rediscovered. HMS Erebus was found in 2014 and has been dived. I think the bell has been brought up if I remember. The HMS Terror was found further south in 2016 and also has been dived. Out of the two the Terror is the best preserved. The Captains desk is in there (I wonder if there is logs in there or a diary), dishes, bottles and the wheel I think is still well preserved. Its still being dived and explored to this day as if they will ever get the desk out & opened I have doubts. Maybe its for the best to leave some mystery too it. I would think Crozier would take anything important with him diary or paper wise. Who knows. I wonder what is in Franklins desk or room over on the Erebus. I guess its fascinating to speculate. I cant imagine the horror, the cold, the isolation and the pain they all went through. I hate our winters in Illinois in the USA b ut their environment was far worse than our random blizzard or artic blast that could last a few weeks its nothing compared to crap weather there. Here we can just stock up before storm and just not come out of the apartment for days on end staying in warmth. They couldn't. So I cant imagine how badly that sucked.
Now to discuss the huge ass elephant in the room the cannibalism issue. I'm pretty conflicted on it but I recognize in the last resort of desperation survival mode kicks in and if there's no food around but dead bodies you might as well if they are dead. I don't support killing to eat someone during famine. It would still be murder. If someone dies of illness or whatever then you might as well. If I was dying I would just tell people after I die to dig in. Ill be dead what would I care however joking a side I would want someone to come out alive. I get the desperation. Thank god no kids were around like the Donner Party that had to witness it or eat their relative after they died. The question thought is if we were all in their shoes would we resort to eating human remains? There's no right or wrong answer to that and while I personally say no I wouldn't IM saying this with a belly full in a warm place. In their type of situation I cant answer that as at a certain point your instinct to survive kicks in and so does mental crap where laws or morality becomes less relevant. I want to say no I wouldnt but the truth is I dont know. No one knows how they will react unless faced with it. These poor men had no choice. If you stayed with the ships you die and if you march south you die. Its a no win scenario during that era of time.
Now today with Computers, phones, Wi-Fi plus Coast Guard and rescue organizations you wouldn't find a case like this or very unlikely too. Someone would come to your aid within a week or less depends on ice. There are ice breaker ships and ice patrol these days to monitor ice....thank the RMS Titanic disaster (1912) for that. No disrespect to any of the loss of life but who knows if this stuff would exist if it hadn't of struck an iceberg and sank with a massive loss of life.
Imagines off Google search. Following ais art I drew of the Captains. I will draw the ships one of the days. I hope I did them proud. I'm used to drawing cartoonish characters not real life people.
Pictures I drew of Franklin, Fitzjames and Crozier:
Below a tv show based of the expedition those more of a thriller/horror show I guess starring Jared Harris and two actors from Game of Thrones ( Mance & Edmund). Its called AMC Terror season1.
Its ten episodes some fact in there and alot of not so much but still a great watch. The acting is top notch.
Will end this by saying lets remember these men as heroes and paving away for future ships to travel up that way plus explore. RIP men.
Comments
Post a Comment