Did you know…

Franklin Expedition

During the 19th Century the British Empire commissioned numerous expeditions to the Canadian North in an attempt to map at that time an “unknown territory”, as well as finding a navigable maritime route through the Northwest Passage to Asia.  May 1845, saw the launch of the now famous Franklin expedition headed by Sir John Franklin.  The three year expedition was commissioned to find the Northwest Passage and included two ships HMS Terror and Erebus with a total crew of 129 men and provision to last three years.

By 1846 both ships had become engulfed in sea ice and therefore trapped in Victoria Strait (central portion of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) and essentially ended the expedition.  From that point speculation and myth transcend fact as a myriad of factors including scurvy, lead poisoning, starvation and even cannibalism point to the demise of the entire crew; in later years artifacts and human remains were found on King William Island to support such a notion, the two ships sunk and have yet to be found.

Interesting to note is that more people were used to search for the ill-fated Franklin expedition then Sir John Franklin’s entire crew – a large reward was attributed to this influx.  Bitter-sweet, the numerous parties sent to search for the Franklin expedition in turn created a wealth of knowledge as to the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the Northwest Passage itself. 

Between 2008 and 2010 the Canadian government has revived the search for Franklin’s two lost ships using sonar aboard the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier — HMS Terror and Erebus are regarded as one of the most sought after maritime treasures in the world!