Erebus bodies12/31/2023 The geographical locations of these discoveries afforded a means through which to trace the route taken to the Back River, and the skeletal remains and artefacts, and the contexts in which both were found, provided the foundation for later bioarchaeological studies directed at understanding the circumstances underlying the extraordinary number of deaths. No written records of subsequent events, including deaths that occurred during the escape attempt, have ever been found.Īll 105 men who set out for the Back River perished, and reconstructions of events that led to that result have largely been based on discoveries of their bodies, bones and graves by 19th and early 20th century Inuit and Euro-American search expeditions, and archaeological investigations that commenced in the 1980s. The few details known about this escape plan were in a single sentence in a brief written document found 11 years later at the staging camp near Victory Point (Cyriax, Reference Cyriax1939). Four days later, they embarked on a 400 km journey to the Back River, from which to reach the interior of northern Canada to obtain aid at a Hudson Bay Company Post. Crozier, deserted the ships and moved tons of equipment and supplies, including several boats, by sledges across 28 km of sea ice and encamped on the northwest coast of King William Island, a few kilometres south of Victory Point. On 22 April 1848, the 105 surviving officers and crew, under the command of Captain F. By April 1848, at which time HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were icebound in northern Victoria Strait, an additional 21 men had died, including John Franklin. Three men died during the first year of the expedition and were buried on Beechey Island, near which the ships overwintered in 1845–1846. The emotional impact of the shocking scale of the loss of life was further intensified by grisly reports of cannibalism. The feature that differentiated the 1845 Franklin expedition from all others was its attainment of catastrophic status resulting from the loss not only of both ships, but also of all 129 members of the expedition. The distinguishing feature of the 1845 British northwest passage expedition led by Sir John Franklin was not its presumed failure to have met its principal objective, as other 19th century British polar expeditions had also failed to successfully complete a transit of a northwest passage. It is suggested that approximately one-third of the identifications have been based on information that is inadequate to confidently assign the human remains as those of Franklin expedition personnel. This paper presents a summary of these findings and examines the criteria used to attribute them to the Franklin expedition. ![]() These discoveries have played a central role in reenactments of events thought to have occurred during the failed attempt to reach the Back River and to the disastrous outcome of the expedition. ![]() All of the men died before reaching their destination, and their remains have been found at 35 locations along the route of the retreat. They assembled at a camp south of Victory Point on the northwest coast of King William Island and made the final preparations for the next step, a 400 km trek along the frozen seashores of King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula to the Back River. On 22 April 1848, after three years in the Arctic, and 19 months spent ice-bound in northern Victoria Strait, the 105 surviving officers and crew of the Franklin Northwest Passage expedition deserted HMS Erebus and HMS Terror as the first step of their escape plan.
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