An overview of a complex…and baffling history

Denis A. St-Onge, O.C. 2007

William Baffin 1584-1622

Martin Frobisher 1535?-1594

John Ross 1777-1856W.E. Parry 1790-1865

Thomas Simpson1808 - 1840

John Franklin 1786-1847 John Rae 1813-1893Francis LeopoldMcClintock 1819-1907

THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE…and Canada’s first Bre-X

British Admiral Martin Frobisher

First trip 1576

FIRST MEETING BETWEEN FROBISHER’S CREWand THE INUIT OF BAFFIN ISLAND 1576

Painting by Francis Back

An Inuk and his Kayak captured by Frobisherin an attempt to find fivesailors who disappeared withthe only row boat

THE GABRIEL ANCHORED AT KODLUNARN Is. 1576

“Tokens of Possession”

THE ART OF DIPLOMACY!

The second trip in 1577

Inuit man taken as an “interpreter” and woman and child as prisoners.

“Ignorth” i.e. arnaq and Nutiok i.e. nutaraq “Calichough”

KODLUNARN orQALLUNAAQ Island

180 tons of ore taken in 1577

Departure from England in 1578 of the 15 ships under Martin Frobisher. Destination: Countess of Warwick’sIsland (now Qallunaat Island). Purpose: mining ‘gold’.

THE QUEST FOR GOLD!

The third voyage in 1578

“Mining sites”

First European House

NO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTBUT…SOMETHING USEFUL

“Ore” was eventually usedTo build a wall around the former Dartford Priory inKent.

WILLIAM BAFFIN

In 1616 Baffin explores the BayThat bears his name and reaches77o 22’ north, a northing that will not be surpassed until the19th century.

The First Tabloids?

John Ross (1818) and Parry (1819 – 1820)

Ross’s mythicalCroker mountains

"First Communication with the Inuit of Prince Regents Bay,by John Sackheouse presented to Capt. Ross, Aug. 10, 1818."

THE FIRST LARGE COMMERCIAL VENTURE IN THE ARCTIC

Kekerten station in 1922-1923

Kekerten Harbour

As it was

Today

Edward Parry; John Ross and his nephew James Clark Ross

Fury Beach, Boothia Peninsula

Fury Beach today

Thomas Simpson(1808-1840) & Francis Leopold McClintock (1819-1907

Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson’s travels 1838 & 1839

Peter Dease who was a chief factor of the Hudson Bay Co. in the Athabaska region had been selected to lead the expedition to be “a steadying influence on the impetuous and mercurial Thomas”“Dease was a worthy, indolent, illiterate soul and moves just as I give the impulse”(Simpson in a letter to his brother)The expedition left Fort Confidence for the Coppermine on 6 June 1838

Fort Confidence, Great Bear Lake. This sketch of the Fort rebuilt in 1848 was drawn by Dr. John Rae (HBCArchives, Manitoba)Simpson spent the winters 1837-38 and 38-39 with Peter Warren Dease’s family in Fort Confidence

To Simpson’s inexpressible Joythey met a group of Eskimos

Simpson and Dease exploration Summer 1838

During the middle of the day on August 20 1838 they passed Point TurnagainThe furthest east reached by Franklin’s 1st expedition.

Fearing that he was heading to a dead end bay Simpson climbed a high cape:“a vast and splendid prospect burst suddenly upon me. The sea, as if transformedby enchantment, rolled its free waves at my feet, and beyond the reach of vision to the eastward…”Simpson called this Cape Alexander after his brother. “The morning of the 25th wasDevoted…to the erection of a pillar of stones on the most elevated part of the point.”

On 15 June 1839 Dease and Simpson leave Fort Confidence for the Coppermine.They reached the western shore of Boothia Peninsula on August 20 at Cape Sir JohnRoss.

Names they added: Richardson River, Cape Barrow, Cape Franklin, Cape Alexander, Trap Point,Minto Inlet, Cape Roxborough, Melbourne Island, Gloucester Hills, Ellice River, WhitebearPoint, Grant Point, Cape Seaforth, Thunder Cove, Simpson Strait, Richardson Point, PechellPoint, Cape Selkirk, Cape Britania.

At Cape Britania “…on this part of the coast, we erected a conical pile ofPonderous stones, fourteen feet high; which, if it not be pulled down by the natives may defy the rage of a thousand storms. In it we placed a sealedBottle, containing an outline of our proceedings; and possession was taken of our extensive discoveries, in the name of Victoria the First…It was onlyon occasions like this that we regretted the want of any kind of liquor withWhich to treat our faithful crews.”

Starvation CoveJames Savelle

An example ofa large cairn

THE RETURN TRIP

Leave Cape Selkirk on Augusty 20, reach mouth of Coppermine September 16, 1839

THE INCREDIBLE SAGA OF…

THE UNFOLDING OF A WORLD CLASS TRAGEDY

When last seen in Disko Bay July 1845

THE BEGINNING OF A CATASTROPHY

Erebus and Terror Bay, Beechey Island

Erebus and Terror, first winterNear Beechey Island

Stark memorials

Beechey Island HeadlandPainting by John Hamilton

William Braine, April 3rd, 1846, age 32

John Hartnell, January 4th 1846, age 25

John Torrington, Jan. 1, 1846, age 20

Thomas Morgan, 1854 Belcher exp.

IN MEMORY OF A YOUNG MAN

John Torrington From HMS Terrordied January 1, 1846(as he appeared when excavatedOwen Beattie in 1984)

PART OF THE PROBLEM!

And a Cenotaph erected by Belcher in 1854“To commemorate Bellot and others…who died Searching for the Franklin Expedition”

Erebus and TerrorCrawling along a lead in pack ice Westof King William Island

ARTISTS’ RENDITION OF THE FRANKLIN TRAGEDY

Abandoning ships west of King William IslandSpring 1848

Franklin died on June 11, 1847

Nameless andDesperate heroes

Memorial to Lieut Irving RN, HM Ship TERRORDean Cemetary, Edinburgh, Scotland

“In memory of Lieut John Irving RN, HM Ship TERROR. Born 1815 died in King William’s Land 1848-9.Her Majesty’s ships EREBUS and Terror left England in May 1845 under command of Sir John Franklin KCB to explore a north-west passage to the Pacific.After wintering 1845-6 at Beechey Island they sailed south downFranklin’s Strait and entered the NW passage.Having been there beset with ice for two years, Sir J Franklin, 8 other officers & 15 seamen having died, the survivors – 105 in number – Lieut Irving being one – landed on King William’s Land and attempted to march to Canada but all died from cold and want of food.In 1879 Lieut of the American Searching Expedition discovered Lieut Irving’s grave. Through his kindness the remains of this brave and good officer were brought away and were deposited here on 7th January 1881.”

THE KABLOONA WITH THE LONG LEGS

John Rae,the consummate Arctic Traveler

Surveyed 2, 825 km of new territoryTraveled 10, 490 km on snowshoes and

sailed 10, 720km in small boatsAided by a few native people he solved the

two great Arctic mysteries: -the fate of the doomed Franklin in 1853 - 1854-the final link of the NW passage.

This brought the wrath of the formidableLady Franklin

RELICTS OF A TRAGEDY

Lieutenant William Robert Hobson Captain Francis Leopold McClintock

The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas1857 - 1859

The Fox was a 160-tonne yacht built by British nobleman for luxury cruising.It was purchased by Lady Franklin following a public subscription. The FoxWas merely a vehicle for getting as close as possible to King William Island. The search would be conducted by sledges.

In late August-early September McClintock made 5 attempts to cross BellotStrait and was always stopped by ice in the western part of the Strait. A small bay at the base of Mount Walker (Port Kennedy) was selected for the winter anchorage.

Bellot Strait looking West

Burial in the ice. Fox’s engineer died of injuries from a fall. A hole was cut in the ice and his body was slipped into the ocean to bury him “at sea.”

“On the 20th April, in latitude 70 1/2o N., we met two families of natives, comprising twelve individuals;…”

“…we learned that two ships had been seen …one of them was seen to sink in deep water, and nothing was obtained from her, a circumstance at which they expressed much regret; but the other was forced on shore bythe ice, where they suppose she still remains but is much broken.”“…the body of a man was found on board the ship; that he must have been a very large man, and had long teeth;…”

“…it was in the fall of the year – that is, August or September – when theships were destroyed; all the white people went away to the “large river,”taking a boat or boats with them. And that the following winter there boneswere found there.”

Pasley Bay, Boothis peninsula

“We found here ten or twelve huts and thirty or forty natives…”“I purchased from them six pieces of sil;ver plate, bearing the crests or initialsof Franklin, Crozier, Fairholme, and McDonald…”“There had been many books they said, but all have long been destroyed by the weather; the ship was forced on shore in the fall of the year by ice.”“She said many of the white men dropped by the way as they went to the Great River.”

“Shortly after midnight of the 24th May…I cam across a human skeleton…This victim was a young man, slightly built…the dress appeared to be that of a stewartor officer’s servant…blue jacket with slashed sleeves and braided edging, andthe pilot-cloth great-coat with plain covered buttons. We found also, a clothes brush near, and a horn pocket-comb.”

“…I ascended the slope which is crowned by Simpson’s conspicuouscairn …now only four feet high; thesouth side had been pulled down and the central stones removed…nothingwhatever was found, nor any trace of European visitors in its vicinity”

Southwestern King William Island in Spring

…a sad and touching relic of our lost friends…

There is an error in the first “All well” document

Apparently written by Lt. Gore : over wintering at Beechey Island was in 1845-46 not 1846-47.

Second message written around the margin is more Ominous: “April 25, 1848.-H.M. ships ‘Terror’ and‘Erebus’ were deserted on the 22nd April, 5 leaguesN.N.W. of this, having been beset since 12th September, 1846. The officers and crews, consisting of 105 souls, Under the command of Captain F.R.M. Crozier, landedHere in lat. 69o 37’ 42’’ N., long. 98o 41’ W. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847; and the total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9 Officers and 15 men.”Signed SignedF.R,N. Crozier James FitzjamesCaptain and Senior Officer Captain H.M.S. Erebus“and start (on) tomorrow, 26th for Back’s Fish River.”

…in the morning of the 30th May (1859) we encamped alongside a large boat-…

“A vast quantity of tattered clothing was lying in her…not a single article bore the name of its former owner.”“This boat measured 28 feet long, and 7 feet 3 inches wide;…she had neither oars or rudder, paddles supplying their place…”“The weight of the boat alone was about 700 or 800 lbs but she was mounted upon a sledge of unusual weight and strength, It was constructed of two oak planks 23 feet 4 inches in length, 8 inches in width and with an averagethickness of 2 ½ inches….I have calculated the weight of this sledge to be 650 lbs.; it could not have been less, and may have been considerably more. The total weight of boat and sledge may be taken at 1400 lbs.“But all these were after observations; there was that in the boat which transfixed us with awe. It was portions of two human skeletons….Close beside (one) were found five watches; and there were two double-barrelled guns- one barrel in each loaded and cocked…eight pairs of boots…silk handkerchief…a quantity of articles of one description and another truly astonishing in variety, and such as, for the most part, modern sledge-travellers would consider a mere accumulation of dead weight, but slightly useful, and very likely to break down the strength of the sledge-crews.”“in the after part of the boat we discovered eleven large spoons, eleven forks, and four tea spoons, all of silver;…”

“I was astonished to find that the sledge was directed to the N.E., exactly for the next point of land which we ourselves were travelling. The position of this abandoned boat is about 50 miles – as a sledge would travel – from Point Victory, and therefore 65 miles from the position of the ships;…A little reflection led me to satisfy my own mind at least, that the boat was returning to the ships: and in no other way can I account for two men having been left in her, than by supposing the party were unable to drag the boat further… ”

“Whether all or any of the remainder of this detached party ever reached their ships is uncertain; all we know is, thatthey did not revisit the boat, and which accounts for the absence of more skeletons in its neighborhood; and theEskimaux report that there was no one alive in the ship when she drifted on shore, and that but one human body was found by them on board of her.

“On the morning of the 2nd of June (1859) we reached Point Victory.”“A great quantity and variety of things lay strewed about the cairn, such as even in their three days’ march from the ships the retreating crews found it impossible to carry further. Amongst these were four sets of boat’s cooking stoves, pickaxes, shovels, iron hoops, old canvas, a large single block, about four feet of a copper lightning conductor, long pieces of hollow brass curtain rods, a small case of selected medicines containing about twenty-four phials, the contents in a wonderful state of preservation; a deep circle by Robinson, with two needles, bar magnets, and light horizontal needle all complete…and even a small sextant engraved in the name ‘Frederick Hornby’ lying beside the cairn without its case.”

“The clothing left by the retreating crews of the ‘Erebus’ and ‘Terror’ formed a huge heap four feet high.”

Cairn at Cape Lady Jane Franklin

Photo:Prof. JamesSavelle