Sonar Image - Parks Canada
Sonar Image - Parks Canada
Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them. Stories gleaned from the local indigenous people, the Inuits, suggest the expedition became locked in ice and perished. In desperation, it was claimed the stranded party resorted to cannibalism. However, Lady Jane Franklin refused to accept her husband met such a horrid fate and continued raising money to fund searches many years after he was last heard from and long after most authorities had given up hope of his survival. Despite a great number of search expeditions over the following decade, no sign had ever found of the HMS Erebus or the HMS Terror.
Three bodies discovered over a century later in the 1980s were found to have a high lead content and to this day, many people believe the 129 crew members were poisoned by leaking lead in their poorly soldered tin cans. More recent research suggests the canned food supplied to Franklin was not acidic enough for that to happen and the lead was more likely to have come from the internal pipe system on the ships.
The search resulted in the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic Archipelago. The discovery of Franklin's vessels is considered one of the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology. A team of Canadian divers and archaeologists has been trying to find the ships since 2008.
Sir John and Lady Jane were in Van Diemen’s Land between 1836 and 1843 and left an enormous legacy, establishing a museum, university and helping develop the island’s reputation beyond that of a penal colony. Their contribution to Tasmanian society is significant and positive. Franklin’s legacy is still visible in Tasmania today, with both a river and village named after him and his wife, his statue a prominent feature of Hobart’s Franklin Square, while University of Tasmania residential college Jane Franklin Hall was named after his widow.
Main Text written by Duncan Abey - “The Mercury” newspaper,
September 11 2014
Extra text from BBC World news - Fabled Arctic Ship
Found
Extra text from “The Mercury” September 11 2014 - Ice
Thaws on Franklin Find
Sir John Franklin Biographies & Historic Photos
Wikipedia - Sir John Franklin
Wikipedia - Franklin's Lost
Expedition
Australian Dictionary of Biography - Sir John Franklin
Alison Alexander’s Book – The Ambition of Jane Franklin - Jane Franklin
Video from CBC's "The National" Youtube Channel