Posted on 09/09/2014 1:15:16 PM PDT by the scotsman
'One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago has been found, Canada's prime minister says.
Stephen Harper said it was unclear which ship had been found, but photo evidence confirmed it was one of them.
Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration.
The Canadian government began searching for Franklin's ships in 2008 as part of a strategy to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which has recently become accessible to shipping because of melting Arctic ice.
Expedition sonar images from the waters of Victoria Strait, just off King William Island, clearly show the wreckage of a ship on the ocean floor.'
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
It was homeward bound one night on the deep
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep
I dreamed the dream and I thought it true
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew
With a hundred seamen he sailed away
The frozen ocean in the month of May
To seek a passage around the pole
Where we poor seamen do sometimes go
Through cruel hardships the mainly strove
Their ship on mountains with ice was drove
Only the Eskimo in his skin canoe
Was the only one that ever came through
In Baffin Bay where the whale fish blow
The fate of Franklin no man may know
The fate of Franklin no tongue can tell
When Franklin along with his sailors do dwell
And now my burden it gives me pain
For my long lost Franklin I´d cross the main
Ten thousand guineas would I freely give
To say on earth that my Franklin do live....
Cool!!
Well preserved.
Thanks for posting.
Wonder why it was called a fable? Ill fated maybe, but not a fable.
Global warming caused this ship to sink. In other words, it’s George Bush’s fault...
Probably just a gross gps navigaton error. But I salute the courage of those that made such a hazardous attempt.
There is a part to the story which might be considered a fable. It’s been reported over the years that some of the men did make it far to the west where they were taken in by the natives, married and had families. Not sure if that’s ever been proven.
This is the voyage, I believe, in which we have some preserved bodies - one a handsome young officer, I believe, with long blond curls. At least he looks handsome in his dessicated state. I was fascinated by the photos as a young person.
A fable is a work of fiction, a story.
Fabled is a an event about which stories are made up about.
Per the PBS special I watched about this they were stuck in frozen ice for 1-2 winters. Had canned food - lead in the cans.
I think weather is cycles, how did these global warming nuts ever make it out of grade school?
If there was a female one, Slick Willy’d be all over that!
You know, when I posted I said to myself: I sound just like Clinton! (Does anyone remember THAT story?!)
“Global warming caused this ship to sink.”
You say this in jest, but, Global Warming WAS the cause of this tragedy.
In 1816, we had the “Year without a Summer” as Mt Tambora blew it’s top and cooled everything. 1817-1818, when Capt Ross and Lt Parry went sailing looking for the Northwest Passage, they found the path through the Lancaster sound clear almost all the way through to the Beaufort Sea. This led to a number of explorations looking for the Passage.
Franklin’s was one of the many that went, but, also, one of the few that didn’t come back, or, at least get word back as to what happened.
The loss did lead to the final discovery of the passage.
The mummy girl? Isn't that where the "I'd hit it" phrase came from?
OH MY
My nephew, Jon Franklin, missing on a river rafting trip, May 2013. Never been found.
I had no idea there was an old story or legend.
Did you have to be redundant ABOUT it?
(Snicker-snort)!
Ah ha. Read it too fast, in a hurry to get to the article then didn’t look again before commenting. Very interesting to me as I have been reading about the Bounty and the mayflower quite a bit lately.
The article repeats as fact the canard that the Arctic icepack is melting and the Northwest Package will soon be open. In fact, the last two seasons it has been growing. Just ask the idiots who tried to sail the Passage in 2013 and 2014 who got stuck in the ice.
Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
The global warming from dates you gave in 1845 when his ship was lost? And would that not be global cooling as they were supposedly stuck in ice?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.