Posted on 09/12/2016 3:38:51 PM PDT by Islander7
The long-lost ship of British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, HMS Terror, has been found in pristine condition at the bottom of an Arctic bay, researchers have said, in a discovery that challenges the accepted history behind one of polar exploration’s deepest mysteries.
HMS Terror and Franklin’s flagship, HMS Erebus, were abandoned in heavy sea ice far to the north of the eventual wreck site in 1848, during the Royal Navy explorer’s doomed attempt to complete the Northwest Passage.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
A long, heavy rope line running through a hole in the ship’s deck suggests an anchor line may have been deployed before the Terror went down.
If true, that sets up the tantalising possibility that British sailors re-manned the vessel after she was abandoned at the top of Victoria Strait in a desperate attempt to escape south.
Ping of interest
HMS Terror. I wonder how it got that name.
A suicide mission in frozen hell, in ships named Terror and Erberus.
Is this the ship whose sailors were poisoned by canned food and died horrible deaths? One was perfectly preserved in the ice...
I’m surprised that they were able to crew the ships, given the superstitious nature of the sailors of that period.
I remember a NatGeo special on that crew. I think they were American. The crew, all 129, of this expedition were never found.
I’ve just completed reading Ken McGoogan’s “Fatal Passage”. It is about John Rae, both an Hudson’s Bay Company man and from the Orkney Islands in Scotland who discovered the true fate of Sir John Franklin and his expedition, yet he was mocked and criticized in proper British society for doing so.
The Franklin expedition was a very unfortunate episode, with the insistence on using Royal Navy personnel when HBC men and their native guides could possibly more safely and with better knowledge of the area explored and discovered the Northwest Passage route (as John Rae did and was ultimately vindicated as so by Roald Amundsen). Franklin had recently been the governor of Van Diemen’s Land (modern day Tasmania) and clearly was not suitable for this sort of ambitious feat.
Those were Shackelton’s crew that died of lead poisoning.
The Canadians found Erebus a couple of years ago in the same neighborhood, also well preserved. Amazing finds.
They may have but I thought Shackelton brought all his men to safety.
In fact, Franklin’s men died of starvation, tuberculosis, lead poisoning and various other horrible diseases.
One of his sailors - blond, slim and beautiful even in death - died a horrible death from lead poisoning.
A very tragic tale.
Nope, Franklin.
Scott’s expedition to the South Pole was totally lost, but, due to poor planning on Scott’s part.
Shackleton’s attempt was even less successful, but, Shackleton didn’t lose a man under his command (he did shoot ‘Mrs Chippy’ the cat and was never forgiven for it). The support team on the other side of the continent lost at least one to going nuts and floating off on an ice flow.
I suggest “The Arctic Grail” A fine description of the explorations of the North West Passage and for the Pole.
Hello. As I mentioned in my post below, the book I recently read by McGoogan actually discusses this. There is the theory that the lead poisoning (contracted from the food) may not have directly killed the men, but lead to disorientation and irritability that caused the men to be lost after escaping the boats that were stopped in the ice. Scurvy also played an important factor in the death toll as well as cannibalism (this shocked proper British society at the time when John Rae suggested this).
So a little Bondo and on its way again?
John Rae may have been the greatest foot explorer ever.
He could do just about anything with a pair of skis or snowshoes.
But, it was McClure that walked the passage from west to east, thus, showing it was a real passage.
If you read about the hunt for Franklin and the passage, you also can discover that many times in the last couple of hundred years, the passage was clear of ice. At one point, the Brits had some 7 different teams up there, exploring not just the passage, but, all over the archipelago. Not caught in the ice, but, moving around and getting out before the ice came back in the winter.
Yes! You may very well be right. In just a cursory glance, it is now being said that the lead poisoning came not from the canned foods but the water supply. (In my humble opinion, probably both!) Scurvy was one of the most prevalent and easily treatable diseases, I think.
I don’t post photos but if you do, can you find the photo of the preserved corpse of one of the sailors - he has long blond hair. He apparently died a violent and terrible death, may God bless him. (If you can’t don’t worry about it!!!)
Isn’t there some revision of the revisionism that Scott, indeed, experienced horrible conditions unlike Amundson?
And don’t forget the two guys buried on Beechey Island, and, Franklin himself, who died en-route and was buried at sea.
Sorry for all the post folks. I am fascinated by the Arctic Explorers and have read a number of books. I am enthusiastic about it.
When the first three sailors who died on the voyage were exhumed in the 1980s they were in coffins with name plates and remarkably well
preserved. They had even been autopsied by ship’s doctors.
The soldering used in the early style metal cans were thought to have
contributed to slow lead poisoning and weakening of the expedition
members.
“So a little Bondo and on its way again?”
That would be so cool!
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