Mystery in the Canadian Arctic | The Search for Franklin's Lost Expedition【4K】

[Music] under the command of sir john franklin two ships the hms erebus and hms terror set off from england in 1845 they were to explore the canadian arctic in search of the last unexplored sections of the northwest passage the northwest passage is a sea route that connects the atlantic and pacific oceans passing through the arctic ocean and along the northern coast of north america european explorers have been looking for this possible western trade route from europe to asia by sea for centuries the erebus and terror as well as the entire crew of 129 men vanished into the canadian arctic never to return sir john franklin was an arctic explorer and a british royal navy officer in 1819 and 1825 he led two expeditions into the canadian arctic and his third and final expedition in 1845 was an attempt to find a route via the northwest passage he served during the french revolutionary and napoleonic wars as well as the war of 1812. on february 7 1845 sir john franklin was named expedition commander franklin was granted command of erebus with francis crozier his executive officer and commander of terror james fitch james was appointed second in command of erebus terror and erebus were well built and equipped steam engines allowed the ships to travel at a speed of 4 knots the ships also included reinforced bows made of heavy beams and iron plates and an internal steam heating system there was also a system of iron wells that allowed the screw propellers and iron rudders to be retracted into the hull to protect them from damage they were also given enough food to last at least three years in 1813 the royal navy built hms terror a specialized warship and a newly created bomb vessel she fought in many battles during the war of 1812. terror was repurposed into a polar exploration vessel in the mid-1830s the royal navy built the hms erebus in 1826 as a bomb vessel erebus was refurbished as an exploration vessel after two years of service in the mediterranean sea on may 19 1845 the expedition set sail from greenheight england with 134 officers and crew for supplies the ships headed north to aberdeen and the orkney islands scotland they then traveled to the whalefish islands in western greenland's disco bay some crew members left the expedition and it continued on with 129 men on board british whalers last saw the ships north of baffin island at the entrance of lancaster sound in late july when no word was received in 1847 search parties were dispatched various expeditions would search for the explorers for 12 years on beachy island the first artifacts were discovered including the remains of a winter camp from 1845 to 1846 as well as the gravesites of three of franklin's crew members while surveying for the hudson's bay company in 1854 scottish explorer john ray learned of the franklin's party's likely fate from inuit hunters he was told that both ships had become ice bound and that the men had attempted to reach safety on foot but had died of exposure and starvation with some resorting to cannibalism many artifacts that were identified as belonging to franklin and his men were shown to rey by the inuit on another search chief factor james anderson and hbc employee james stewart paddled north to the mouth of back river a group of inuit informed them in july 1855 that a number of foreigners had starved to death along the coast their fate remained unknown until 1859 a final search mission led by captain francis leopold mcclintock and sent by franklin's wife lady jane franklin reached king william island south and west of lancaster sound some skeletons of the ship's crew were discovered as well as a written account of the expedition up to april 25th 1848. this two-part victory point note found in a cairn on king william island was the only source of first-hand information on the expedition's progress between 1845 and 1846 the franklin expedition spent the winter on beachy island where three crew members died and were buried they were then trapped in the ice in victoria strait off king william island in september 1846. the crew wintered off king william island in 1846 47 and 1847-48 according to the second portion of the victory point note signed by fitch james and crozier on april 25th 1848. it was also stated that franklin had died on june 11 1847. on the 22nd of april 1848 the remaining crew abandoned the ships and intended to walk over the island and across the sea ice to the back river on the mainland beginning on the 26th of april 1848. by this time in addition to franklin 8 officers and 15 men had already died the victory point note is the expedition's last known communication all of the remaining crew members are thought to have died on their journey to back river according to archaeological findings 30 to 40 men made it to the mainland's northern coast before dying still hundreds of kilometers from the nearest outpost between 1860 and 1869 two expeditions led by charles francis hall who lived among the inuit discovered camps graves and artifacts on the southern coast of king william island local inuit led hall to a shallow grave on king william island in 1869 which contained well-preserved skeletal remains and fragments of clothing despite the fact that hall came to the conclusion that the whole franklin crew was dead he acquired hundreds of pages of inuit testimony these included visits to franklin ships in an encounter with a party of white men on the southern shore of king william island inuit accounts point strongly to most of the remaining 105 crew actually surviving past 1848 and managing to sail one of the ships down along the coast of king william island before it sank with some crew members surviving as late as 1851. the franklin expedition forensic anthropology project visited king william island in june 1981. they wanted to locate artifacts and skeletal remains so that modern forensics might be used to determine the identities and causes of death of the 129 crew they noticed areas of pitting and scaling on the bones of franklin's crew which are common in cases of vitamin c deficiency the cause of scurvy they also noticed skeletal patterns suggesting cannibalism the crewman's bones were also found to have an unusually high level of lead after fragments of hundreds of food tins were examined one of the possible sources of high lead levels was the lead solder used to seal the tins the seams were found to be badly soldered with lead most likely coming in contact with the food following further investigation it was discovered that the ship's distilled water systems could have been another possible source of lead in 1993 a team of archaeologists and forensic anthropologists uncovered nearly 400 bones bone fragments and artifacts these bones were found to have high levels of lead and numerous cut marks consistent with de-fleshing some believe that at least some of franklin's men resorted to cannibalism in their dying hours their deaths were most likely caused by a combination of cold malnutrition and disease such as scurvy and also pneumonia and tuberculosis all of which was made worse by lead poisoning more recent chemical re-examination has cast out on the lead poisoning and according to a 2016 study the crew's bad health may have been caused by malnutrition specifically zinc deficiency in 2008 the canadian government launched a mission to uncover additional archaeological evidence of the franklin expedition and in september 2014 the wreck of hms airbus was discovered in wilmot and crampton bay near the adelaide peninsula in september 2016 the wreck of hms terror was discovered in terror bay on the south coast of king william island noted to be in excellent condition the ship was remarkably well preserved terror's hull was still intact proving that the ship had not broken up in the ice the wrecks were found many miles south of their last known location off the northwest coast of king william island some believe the terror must have been crewed and sailed to this location hms terror was discovered 92 kilometers or 57 miles south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned the discoveries would not have been possible without the support and knowledge shared by inuit another positive accomplishment was the mapping of thousands of miles of unsurveyed coastline in the canadian arctic franklin's selected passage took erebus and terror into ice that didn't usually clear in summer whereas the passage along the island's east coast regularly clears in summer and was eventually used by roald amundsen in a successful navigation of the northwest passage in 1903-1906 we may never fully know all the details of what happened to franklin's lost expedition unless more evidence is found parks canada and inuit will protect and present the national historic site for future generations and the work is not yet done there are thousands of artifacts still left to be discovered as the wrecks of both ships will be explored in the near future if you want to learn more please visit the parks canada website for more information and updates on future explorations of the ships you can also watch a guided tour inside the hms terror that was explored in 2019 links are below in the description [Music] you

Channel: Exploring with Wade

Views: 5,334

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Id: z5PvQHPPeNs

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 09 2022