Stephen Harper has announced Parks Canada will embark on a new mission to find the remains of the two ships from Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition.
The following is excerpted from Unravelling the Franklin Mystery by David C. Woodman.
On 28 July 1845 two British exploration vessels, HMS Erebus and Terror, manned by 129 intrepid officers and seamen under the command of Sir John Franklin, were seen disappearing into the ice-pack in Davis Strait by a lonely whaling ship. They had been tasked to find the last small piece in the puzzle of the North-West Passage and travel through it to Asia. If all went well, they were expected to reappear within three years. All Europe waited anxiously.
The Erebus and Terror were never seen by white men again. When the public eventually realized that the ill-fated expedition had run into difficulty, the outcry and effort for its rescue were unparalleled. Throughout the next decade, the largest manhunt in history was undertaken to the strident accompaniment of an unending series of headlines and editorials of argument, speculation, and, rarely, fact.
During the six-year period between 1848 and 1854, over £760,000 were expended, and in one year alone (1850) a dozen major expeditions were involved in the search. By penetrating into every likely bay and inlet (and many unlikely ones), these search expeditions succeeded in filling in the outlines of the massive and hitherto unknown Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It has been remarked with some truth that the disappearance of the Franklin expedition resulted in much more detailed and meticulous exploration than would normally have occurred if it had returned safely. However, the negative result of all of these searches was extremely disappointing to those waiting in England for news of their loved ones - or at least confirmation of their sad fate.
After nine long years, the first clues were learned by accident in 1854. Five years after this, other Europeans slowly walked along in the footsteps of the lost crews, gathered the few relics which the elements had allowed to survive, and interred the scattered bones of their comrades. Some poignant personal belongings, two brief and largely uninstructive notes, and a handful of confused and confusing native recollections were all that ever emerged. These succeeded in resolving the mystery in a very broad sense, but left much room for further interpretation. Argument as to the exact chain of events which led to the tragedy continues to this day.
(…)
The Franklin saga is a puzzle without the prospect of complete solution. As in an involved court proceeding, the best we can hope for is to present a convincing case which, if not provable "beyond a shadow of a doubt," will be able to compete with those of other advocates.
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