Episode 45: Unraveling the Mystery of the Franklin Lost Expedition
Dec 18, 2023Episode 45
Marty Smarticus
Ever wondered what could have led to the disappearance of the Franklin Lost Expedition in 1845? Pull up a chair and join us, your hosts Smarticast and Phoenix, as we unravel this icy mystery and the theories that might answer this question. We delve into an eerie tale that saw Sir John Franklin and his crew vanish without a trace while attempting to discover the Northwest Passage. Lady Jane Franklin, Sir John's second wife, spearheaded a search that marked history's largest naval hunt. As we dissect theories from lead poisoning to the harsh Arctic elements, we'll also unmask unsettling possibilities of desperate cannibalism. Intriguing stories from Inuit groups initially discredited, now take center stage, hinting at the grim fate of Franklin's crew.
Brace yourselves as we move into the next chapter and discover the Rex from the Franklin expedition. The discovery not only sheds light on the crew's tech, lifestyle, and culture, but also the larger geopolitics and economy that shaped the expedition. It’s a captivating journey into the past that offers fresh perspectives on global exploration and colonization. Remember to subscribe and share your thoughts in a review. With Smarticast Tales History, there's always more to uncover.
Ever wondered what could have led to the disappearance of the Franklin Lost Expedition in 1845? Pull up a chair and join us, your hosts Smarticast and Phoenix, as we unravel this icy mystery and the theories that might answer this question. We delve into an eerie tale that saw Sir John Franklin and his crew vanish without a trace while attempting to discover the Northwest Passage. Lady Jane Franklin, Sir John's second wife, spearheaded a search that marked history's largest naval hunt. As we dissect theories from lead poisoning to the harsh Arctic elements, we'll also unmask unsettling possibilities of desperate cannibalism. Intriguing stories from Inuit groups initially discredited, now take center stage, hinting at the grim fate of Franklin's crew.
Brace yourselves as we move into the next chapter and discover the Rex from the Franklin expedition. The discovery not only sheds light on the crew's tech, lifestyle, and culture, but also the larger geopolitics and economy that shaped the expedition. It’s a captivating journey into the past that offers fresh perspectives on global exploration and colonization. Remember to subscribe and share your thoughts in a review. With Smarticast Tales History, there's always more to uncover.
History. Alright, enough with the Echo and Fanfare. You're here for history, right, and not that boring crap you learned in high school. This stuff's actually interesting, like things you've never heard about the Civil War, cleopatra, automobiles, monopoly, the Black Plague and more Fascinating stories, interesting topics and some downright weird facts from the past. It's a new twist on some stories you may know and an interesting look at some things you may have never heard. So grab a beer, kick back and enjoy. Here's your host, smarticast.
Speaker 3:
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Smarticast Tales History. I am your host, smarticast, accompanied by my co-host, phoenix. Hello, today we will be exploring one of the most fascinating and tragic stories in the history of Arctic exploration the Franklin Lost Expedition. In this episode we will take a deep dive into the expedition, its purpose, the circumstances surrounding its disappearance and the subsequent search and discovery of the Lost Crew. But first we will not be doing a food item for this week's episode. We feel that you will understand why as we go into the story.
Speaker 2:
Well. The Franklin Expedition was an 1845 British voyage of exploration led by Sir John Franklin, accompanied by James Fitzjames and Francis Crozier. The aim of discovering the Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They hoped the expedition was authorized by the British Admiralty and the two ships, hms Erebus and HMS Terror, were outfitted with the latest technology of the time, including steam engines, iron plating, double wood hulls and advanced heating systems. The crew of the expedition consisted of 129 men, most of which were English, some Irish, welsh and Scottish. Only two men were not from the British Isles Charles Johnson from Halifax, nova Scotia, canada, and Henry Lloyd from Christensen, norway.
Speaker 3:
In addition to all the new shiny toys that these guys had to go exploring with, there was also a need for preserving and carrying food. Each ship was loaded with three years worth of food Ten soup, vegetables, salt, cured meat, pomegranate and several live cattle. Unfortunately, the contract for the ten food was awarded to a man by the name of Stephen Goldner only seven weeks before the expedition set sail. Goldner was frantic to get enough metal for the order of 8,010s. This would come into play later with great detriment.
Speaker 2:
On May 19th 1845, the HMS Arabus and HMS Terror left Greenheath, England. They made a stop in Stromnes, scotland, before heading towards Greenland to resupply. They were last seen by a wailing ship on July 26th 1845, and Baffin Bay. After that they disappeared without a trace and no one heard anything again.
Speaker 3:
After two years without even a hint of a word from their Franklin expedition, or even a note from eyewitness accounts. It was Sir John Franklin's second wife, Lady Jane Franklin, that got the ball rolling for a search. She persuaded the British Admiralty and Government to launch what would become the largest naval search in history. There were two expeditions launched, one by land and one by sea, in addition to a reward of 20,000 pounds by the Admiralty To any party or parties of any country who shall render assistance to the crews of the Discovery ships under the command of Sir John Franklin. For those that are curious, that reward would now be $2,136,300 as of 2023. That is a lot of money.
Speaker 2:
Many tried to help, but to no avail. They heard stories from Inuit groups in Canada, but what they heard was considered so heinous that the stories were quickly rejected. We'll get to that in a bit. By 1850, many other ships joined the hunt. One such searching ship was the HMS Resolute. It had a bit of a mishap where it got stuck and was abandoned in packed ice. Sometime later it was found intact by an American whaling ship and returned to the United Kingdom. Tembers from this ship were manufactured into three desks, one of which was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B Hayes, and for those of you that are big national treasure fans, I'm sure your ears are perking up. You're right, that desk is the famous Resolute desk that most presidents since have chosen to sit behind in the Oval Office.
Speaker 3:
That is very cool. It is. There was only one first-hand account of what progressed in the first year of the expedition. It was found in a two-part victory point in Oakton. After three men died during the summer on Vici Island, the two ships went down Kiehl Sound to King William Island, where the victory point note says that the ships became stuck in ice Unable to be removed. The HMS Arabus and HMS Terror were deemed unsuitable.
Speaker 2:
According to the second part of the victory point note, which was penned by Crozier and Fitz James, the crew wintered off King William Island from 1846 to 47 and 1847 to 48. During June 1848, Sir Franklin died while eight other officers and 15 men had died prior. These notes were the late communications from the original expedition.
Speaker 3:
Of course, the disappearance of the Franklin expedition was a mystery for many years, decades, even after Several theories and speculations were put forward to explain what might have happened to the crew. One of the theories piggybacked off of the victory point note they must have tried to survive as long as possible along the scattered islands of the Arctic before perishing Bodies found during the search further suggested that this was a probability.
Speaker 2:
Remember the hurried production of the canned food. Another theory was that the crew had succumbed to lead poisoning caused by the lead solder used to seal their food tins. This theory was supported by the discovery of high levels of lead in the remains of some of the crew members. However, this theory has been disputed, as it is difficult to determine whether the lead levels found were a result of the solder or other sources.
Speaker 3:
And remember when Phoenix mentioned the disturbing stories from the Inuits that the search parties discarded. Well, a more recent theory, one finally taken seriously as of the 2010s, was thanks to what researchers discovered when looking at seemingly discarded bones from various sites. When questioned back in the mid-1800s, the Inuit had spoken of a group of white men who passed through. They spoke of the great suffering these men faced and how they had resorted to cannibalism. The Brits found this outrageously unpalatable and refuted it at the time, while researchers of the 21st century have concluded that it was actually fact.
Speaker 2:
Funny enough, upon finding that the Inuit stories about cannibalism was true, researchers in 2014 decided that maybe they should gather more and investigate further these oral stories. Sure enough, thanks to modern underwater equipment used by scientists and clues from the Inuit living on King William Island and the surrounding islands, they found the HMS Arabus underwater in the King Maud Gulf. The HMS Terror was found in Terror Bay later, both of which touched King William Island.
Speaker 3:
How ironic the HMS Terror was found in Terror Bay.
Speaker 2:
Right, I think. Actually I didn't bother to look it up, but I think it might be named after the Terror, like the HMS Terror.
Speaker 3:
So they never even made it out of the Bay.
Speaker 2:
Mm-mm. They got there and it iced over and they could never get it out, and so, instead of just you know making it a home and living there, they decided they were going to live off of it. Yeah, it's in the freaking ice and tundra. Really I this. It's a very interesting story, but I'm still sitting here thinking a woman would have known better.
Speaker 3:
Sometimes.
Speaker 1:
Well, you're probably not wrong.
Speaker 2:
Oh my gosh, Sorry, oh man. Yeah, Y'all had your mama there. She had told you no.
Speaker 3:
Sometimes there are things that happen in history that just make you think how are we still here as a species Right?
Speaker 2:
It's because their mother was going. I told you not to do that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Someone's wife said that's stupid, Put it down.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, both ships were remarkably intact and preserved, as were many artifacts, considering that they had been submerged for almost 170 years. Exhumations during the 1980s pulled most of the weight as to what happened to the crew Across the board. Malnutrition was the biggest issue, as was an issue with the zinc deficiency. This wasn't too unusual considering that they had little to no meat to eat. Lead poisoning was an issue for all of them, but the test used suggested that it wasn't any higher than most people during that time period. Trabriculosis was the killer of the men that died on beachy island.
Speaker 2:
Sadly, that's the end of a very unhappy story of the lost Franklin expedition. It has become a cautionary tale of the dangers the Arctic exploration and the importance of proper planning, preparation and risk management rather than exploration. The expedition also underscores the importance of respect for indigenous cultures and value of collaboration and communication with local communities. The Inuit people of the region had a wealth of knowledge about the Arctic environment and could have provided valuable insights and assistance to the expedition. Unfortunately, due to cultural misunderstandings and mistrust, the expedition failed to establish a productive relationship with the Inuit and this, we feel, contributed greatly to their ultimate demise.
Speaker 3:
The discovery of the Rex of the Franklin expedition also provided an opportunity for scientific research and historical investigation. The Rex and the artifacts recovered from them have provided valuable insights into the technology, cultural, general health and daily life of the crew. They have also shed new light on the geopolitical and economic context of the expedition and the role of the arctic exploration in the larger context of global exploration and colonization. We hope that you have enjoyed learning about this fascinating aspect of history. Thank you for joining us for this episode of Smarticus Tells History. If you have enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. We will be back with more stories from the past. Until then, keep exploring.