The mummified body of John Torrington, a sailor aboard the doomed Franklin expedition to the arctic, discovered on Beechy Island.
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 ...
Not come across that, but, Scott brought his own conditions with him.
He used ponies instead of dogs, they dressed poorly, and were psychologically unprepared for the conditions.
Amundson was much better prepared, down to planning on eating the dogs if necessary. He planned better.
I have been obsessed for years with Artic explorers! Why, I wonder? Maybe the horror, the terror, the bravery matched with British courage and nobility and their admiration of amateurism in the classic sense.. Although, of course, I adore Shackelton as well.
Please check out the revision of the revisionism - it’s interesting.
Yes, it’s very sad to read about the slaughter of those poor ponies. Undoubtedly, Scott made many mistakes.
Do you know the absolutely brilliant tv series “The Last Place on Earth,” starring Martin Shaw? About Scott and very negative towards him but wonderful television never the less.
If you don’t, I beg you to watch it.
Yes!
I can still remember as a kid being intrigued and horrified by the photos and descriptions of the poor men’s deaths.
I am there too!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Francis_Hall
When I was a child, there was a special on Charles Francis Hall, an American explorer who was looking for Franklin, but, ended up leading an expedition that sailed up to “almost” the Arctic ocean, going up the west coast of Greenland.
While there, he slowly sickened and died. Supposedly his last words were “How do you spell ‘Murder’?”
He was buried in the permafrost and (the point of the special) his body was found and analyzed. He had massive doses of arsenic in his system. Either he was taking some quack medicine (considered unlikely by his friends), or, he was poisoned by the ships doctor.
After that, I read what I could about Franklin, whenever I could.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott
At the bottom of this article there is a discussion about the revision of Scott’s reputation.
I have the book somewhere. Most of my things are in a storage unit right now as my wife and I live on a sailboat. Not much room for things, but, I do have my copy of Arctic Grail.
I know one expedition, forget which one, in which men ate rabbits for some time. There were lots, but died because rabbits don’t have salt or something like that. I’d have to search for it, but I remember that from being a kid.
These men going off into the unknown, into a frozen hell on earth, is a good glimpse into the bravery of the times.
Compare the men then to now and then we see how things got as bad as they are.
Sounds kind of like Franklin’s first arctic expedition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppermine_Expedition_of_1819%E2%80%9322
No one seemed to be able to hunt and there was a least one murder/cannibalism event.
It was a brand-new fresh water distillation system, with unoxidized lead piping.
Betcha that the water tasted somewhat sweet, and "good".
Rabbit is not a complete protein.
Hopefully, if you're anywhere near Terror Bay in your sailboat, you're heading south really soon.
I've been fascinated by many different episodes in history over my life. The arctic explorers chapter mostly began during a very hot summer in my home town of Detroit watching a mini-series on PBS about Amundsen. Dreaming about freezing helps when you're cooking hot!
We plan on going to Alaska and maybe Greenland in our sailing (the Capt’n wants to see icebergs), but, I want to end up in Australia.
I am also interested in Amateur Astronomy and plan on practicing that while there.
Our boat, a 36 ft Tashing Tashiba, was made for blue water sailing. It will get us anywhere we want to go.
One big shock was that the ship's doctor had done an autopsy on at least one of the bodies. Quite a surprise on the x-ray when shadings didn't match what was expected, and after they thawed the body, they found out why. The doctor had just thrown the organs back in without regard to the original positions.
Not that the corpse, or organs, cared.
Why did he kill poor Mrs. Chippy?
Didn’t his modern day ancestor participate in the “unburial?”
Pretty neat find. Any ship that has been under water for that many years would not live up to my understanding of “pristine”.
The mummified body of John Torrington, a sailor aboard the doomed Franklin expedition to the arctic, discovered on Beechy Island.
Spent a Christmas years ago on a Cabo Rico 38', and have sailed around in much smaller boats. Everything just seems better with the world from your own sailboat.
No, not Shackleton.
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