Digging up Arctic Explorers
In 1845, the H.M.S. Terror and H.M.S. Erebus, under the command of Sir John Franklin, left Britain to explore the Canadian arctic. This was Franklin’s fourth arctic expedition, and his third as commander. On one of those, an overland expedition, he had nearly starved, surviving by eating his boots. They were seeking out the Northwest Passage, or a river and water route from one coast to the other for trade. They would not return from their journey. When the expedition left, it was quite well provided, with ample stocks of food. Their food supplies should have been adequate for a period of three years.
The two ships left Britain, and reached Canada, but disappeared soon thereafter. They were last sighted at Lancaster Sound. Repeated expeditions were sent in search of Franklin and his crew, but found little more than rumor. Franklin’s wife pushed quite strongly for rescue missions after his disappearance. Among the Inuit, there were some rumors of sightings or encounters with the men from Franklin’s ships. Inuit stores were eventually key to finding the H.M.S. Erebus in 2014.
Franklin’s fate is known; a note found describes that he died prior to the crew abandoning the ships, and that the ships were mired in ice. Some time later, the men abandoned the ships, hiking inland. They likely sought out a fur trading post, hoping to find help and shelter. As early as 1854, traders in contact with the Inuit reported that the Inuit had encountered starving white men, and had artifacts from the Franklin expedition to support this. Franklin’s wife, refusing to believe this, did everything in her power to discredit these stories.
The story of a tragic, failed expedition is not a particularly gory one, until other facts come to light. Inuit oral history also told of piles of human bones, cracked in half to access the marrow. This is the final stage of cannibalism in starvation conditions, a desperate attempt to maintain life. While the specific fate of the sailors on Franklin’s expedition is unknown, some of them, at least, became meals for their crewmates, and none ever reached local trading posts to tell their own story. The H.M.S. Erebus was found by Canadian researchers, supported by the government, in 2014.