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Franklin Expedition: Disappearance; Discoveries; Conspiracy?

Here's a report about the most recent (September 2018) diving expedition to the Erebus wreck site.

Infamous Wreck of Ill-Fated Franklin Expedition Yields More Artifacts, But No Ship's Log
Underwater archaeologists have finished their latest research trip to the wreck of the HMS Erebus, a ship abandoned in the Canadian Arctic 170 years ago during the ill-fated Franklin expedition.

Harsh weather conditions hampered this month's mission. Divers could not enter Sir John Franklin's cabin, where they had hoped to find documents or the ship's logs preserved in icy water that might explain the tragic fate of the ship.

The archaeologists did, however, bring nine more artifacts to the surface for conservation, including a ceramic pitcher and an artificial horizon used for navigation from an officer's cabin on the lower deck. ...

In 1845, Franklin left Britain in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, a sea route that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. His ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, became choked in ice in the Canadian Arctic and were abandoned in 1848. None of the 129 crewmembers lived to tell what happened after that. The disaster was one of the worst in the history of polar exploration.

Subsequent search parties, explorers and archaeologists have found scattered graves, notes and artifacts in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, hinting at the fate of the Franklin expedition. But the final resting place of the ships remained a mystery until recently.

A decade ago, Parks Canada launched a mission to find the ships. The wreck of the HMS Erebus was finally rediscovered in 2014 in Victoria Strait. Two years later, the HMS Terror was found off the coast of King William Island, thanks to a tip from a local Inuit fisher from Gjoa Haven, the only town on the island. Underwater archaeologists have been regularly returning to the sites. This year, they had planned to explore more of Erebus' inner chambers, but thick sea ice delayed and shortened the mission. ...

"This proved to be the worst ice conditions we've ever seen," Ryan Harris, a senior underwater archaeologist for Parks Canada, and one of the leaders of the research on the Franklin expedition, told reporters in a call on Wednesday (Sept. 26).

"We were only able to cover a day and a half of scientific diving on the site," Harris said. "We look forward to a longer window of opportunity next season, hopefully when ice conditions return to the norm that we've seen in the last few years. One of our immediate intentions is to explore deeper down into the hidden rooms at the bowels of the ship, which will be extremely interesting." ...

In addition to the pitcher and the artificial horizon, the divers found metal parts of rigging instruments. The team also found a piece of tarred felt used for waterproofing the vessel, and the material still had the impressions of wooden planks.

The nine artifacts are now at a laboratory in Ottawa, Canada, where they will undergo chemical analysis and sampling; the archaeologists said they hope residues inside the pitcher, for instance, will reveal what the officer was drinking. The objects will then undergo conservation.

Divers had previously recovered 65 artifacts from the HMS Erebus, including buttons, dinner plates, a boot, medicine bottles, the ship's bronze bell and part of the vessel's wheel. Those 65 objects are owned by the United Kingdom. The nine newly recovered artifacts, as well as any artifacts found in the future, will be jointly owned and managed by Parks Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust.
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SOURCE: https://www.livescience.com/63704-franklin-expedition-artifacts-recovered.html

SLIDESHOW OF RECOVERED ARTIFACTS: https://www.livescience.com/63701-photos-hms-erebus-exploration.html
 
The doomed 1845 voyage of Sir John Franklin to the Northwest Arctic Passage was one of the greatest disasters of British polar history, ending in the deaths of 129 crewmen.

Now the Inuit community where the wreckage of the HMS Terror and its sister the Erebus were found say its curse has been reawakened - and is claiming lives in the tiny indigenous settlement.

Fear has gripped the remote Arctic settlement of Gjoa Haven, on Canada's King William Island, amid claims of "non-human" beings stalking the ice. A spate of six unexpected deaths in the space of two weeks at Gjoa Haven has led to a belief among the 1,000 strong Inuit community that the wrecks should not have been disturbed.

Jacob Keanik, whose brother and nephew drowned in a boating accident after the ships were found, told Canadian radio: "People are superstitious. They feel there is a connection between the deaths and disturbing the wreck sites. "My late mother told me, even before these shipwrecks were discovered...the whole King William Island has non-human people that we cannot see. It's a funny feeling when we get on the other side of the island. You sense that somebody's around you, but there's nobody around you."

Other deaths included a vehicle accident and a heart attack.

Tamara Tarasoff, an official with Parks Canada, the government agency protecting marine conservation areas, said the community "feel the wrecks are cursed and should not be disturbed".

At a community meeting Fred Pedersen, of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, told concerned residents of Gjoa Haven: "It is only artifacts that are being found and being taken off wreck sites.

"There are plans in place that if any bodies are found, they will be left in place. We will not bring up or disturb human remains."

The site of the Erebus wreck was blessed by Inuit "guardians" shortly after it was discovered. But no quick blessing was carried out for Terror. A blessing of Terror has now been performed in an attempt to stop the "curse".

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ate-deaths-cursed-shipwreck-franklins-doomed/

maximus otter
 
Nothing to do with the TV show recreating the disaster this year, of course.
 
Evidence recovered from beneath the bitter cold of Canada’s Arctic Ocean will shed new light on the final days the ill-fated expedition of the British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, who disappeared with his crew in 1845.

Parks Canada and Inuit researchers announced on Wednesday the results of a study of the HMS Terror – including “groundbreaking” new images from within the incredibly well-preserved ship – and raised the possibility that logs and maps have remained intact and legible after nearly 170 years underwater.

Over several weeks in early August, the researchers launched 3D-mapping technology to survey the wreck site off the the coast of King William Island in Nunavut.

For the first time ever, the team was also able to make seven trips inside the ship by piloting a remotely operated vehicle through the ship. Nearly 90% of the ship’s lower deck – including the areas where the crew ate and slept – were accessible to the vehicle. In total, the expedition was able to study 20 separate rooms.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...john-franklin-evidence-recovered-arctic-ocean
 
The remains of a crew member, from Sir John Franklin' doomed 1845 Arctic expedition, have been positively identified.

"A member of a doomed 1845 Arctic voyage has been identified by researchers who matched his DNA with that of a living descendent from South Africa.

Tests confirmed skeletal remains recovered from an island in northern Canada were those of John Gregory.

Gregory was an officer on British explorer Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57013327
 
Now the Inuit community where the wreckage of the HMS Terror and its sister the Erebus were found say its curse has been reawakened - and is claiming lives in the tiny indigenous settlement.
Click to expand...

Blooming heck, these are educated, rational people; do they have evidence to back this up?
 
Souleater said:
The remains of a crew member, from Sir John Franklin' doomed 1845 Arctic expedition, have been positively identified.

"A member of a doomed 1845 Arctic voyage has been identified by researchers who matched his DNA with that of a living descendent from South Africa.

Tests confirmed skeletal remains recovered from an island in northern Canada were those of John Gregory.

Gregory was an officer on British explorer Sir John Franklin's ill-fated expedition to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57013327
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Almost-perfectly preserved bodies of three of the expedition members were found on Beechey Island in the 1980s. This was documented in a UK telly series and book, both entitled Frozen in Time. l remember watching the TV programme, and subsequently bought the book.

One of the most amazing parts of the series was that the archaeologists had taken one of John Torrington’s lineal descendants with them, so he was able to look into the eyes of his umpteen-greats grandfather(?), a privilege afforded to few.

NOTE: Images of dead men at link below:

More info and facial reconstructions.

maximus otter
 
Only known photograph/daguerreotype of Captain Crozier and photographs/daguerreotypes of other officers to be auctioned.

Capt Francis Crozier
IMAGE SOURCE, SOTHEBY'S Image caption, It is the only known photograph of Capt Francis Crozier


An original portrait photograph of a famous Arctic explorer, taken shortly before the doomed Franklin expedition, will be auctioned in London next month.

Capt Francis Crozier and 13 other senior officers were photographed in May of 1845. The complete set of 14 portraits will be auctioned by Sotheby's.

Two images in the set, including Capt Crozier's, are missing from the only other original collection of these portraits known to exist.

Sir John Franklin's expedition to find a Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic became one of the best-known maritime mysteries of all time after the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror disappeared without a trace in the summer of 1845.

At the request of Sir John's wife Jane, Lady Franklin, at least two sets of 14 daguerreotypes, or early photographs, were taken on board HMS Erebus in the days before the ships' departure. The portraits were made by the Beard Studio, founded by pioneering photographer Richard Beard.

One of the sets is currently held by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge, but it lacks images of Capt Crozier, commander of HMS Terror, and Robert Sargent, a mate on HMS Erebus. To date, historians have only had access to copies of these two men's daguerreotypes.

Franklin researchers had long speculated as to whether the second, complete, set of original daguerreotypes survived. The 14 portraits that have now emerged for auction were owned by Franklin's descendants.
The sale is estimated to fetch between £150,000 and £200,000.

All of the daguerreotypes will be exhibited in public together, for the first time ever, at Sotheby's this September.

Set of 14 portraits
IMAGE SOURCE ,SOTHEBY'S Image caption, Capt Francis Crozier is pictured in the second row down, the far right photo, as part of a 14-portrait set

"These images are absolutely astonishing, the clarity is wonderful," says Michael Smith, biographer of Capt Crozier. He notes that Capt Crozier was the only crew member from HMS Terror to be photographed and that this daguerreotype is the only known original photograph of him in existence.

Neil Arnold, director of the SPRI, says some of the daguerreotypes in the Sotheby's set show "substantial" differences to those in SPRI's collection - such as the portrait of Charles Des Voeux, who is wearing different clothes and striking a slightly different pose.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-66620402
 
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