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Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest PassageTo find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea ...
Today, we're delving into the life of Sir John Franklin and the worst disaster in British Naval Exploration.
#thread
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In 1786 John Franklin was born in Spilsby, Lincs. - a village a stoneâs throw from our church at Sutterby.
Young Franklinâs first taste of the sea was aged 12 on a trip to Saltfleet. Two years later he joined the Navy and fought in the Battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar.
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Young Franklinâs first taste of the sea was aged 12 on a trip to Saltfleet. Two years later he joined the Navy and fought in the Battles of Copenhagen and Trafalgar.
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After this, things got a bit peaceful and the Navy began exploring in earnest.
Franklin served on three Arctic expeditions.
He became known as âthe man who ate his bootsâ as in 1819, whilst exploring the Arctic, Franklin and his crew survived by eating their leather boots.
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Franklin served on three Arctic expeditions.
He became known as âthe man who ate his bootsâ as in 1819, whilst exploring the Arctic, Franklin and his crew survived by eating their leather boots.
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In 1845, aged 59, Franklin was invited to lead a voyage to discover the Northwest Passage â the Canadian Arctic waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Finding it would make trading with the East easier and the treacherous Cape of Good Hope could be avoided.
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Franklin's ships would be HMS Erebus and Fever. Erebus had been built in the Pembroke Dockyards in 1826, this was âa warship that had been converted to an ice-shipâ. He had a crew of 128 men.
But by 1847, no word had been received.
Search parties were sent out.
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But by 1847, no word had been received.
Search parties were sent out.
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Lady Jane Franklin petitioned the Navy day and night. Over ten years, *36* search-parties went out to find the ships.
Until finally, in 1859, a team reached King William Island and found skeletons of crew members and an account of their expedition thro to 25 April 1848.
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Until finally, in 1859, a team reached King William Island and found skeletons of crew members and an account of their expedition thro to 25 April 1848.
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Their ships had got lodged in the ice.
They waited for summer to come and the ice thaw. It never came.
They waited another summer. But the ice never melted. And the remaining crew died from disease and starvation.
It was the worst disaster in British Naval Exploration.
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They waited for summer to come and the ice thaw. It never came.
They waited another summer. But the ice never melted. And the remaining crew died from disease and starvation.
It was the worst disaster in British Naval Exploration.
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It would take more than 160 years for the vessels from this ill-fated expedition to be discovered: in 2014, Erebus was found underneath the waters of the Canadian Arctic and two years later, Terror was located.
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Franklinâs monument is @wabbey and Tennyson â another Lincolnshire man - wrote the verse:
Not here: the white north has thy bones;
and thou, heroic sailor-soul,
art passing on thine happier voyage now
toward no earthly pole
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: @wabbey
Not here: the white north has thy bones;
and thou, heroic sailor-soul,
art passing on thine happier voyage now
toward no earthly pole
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: @wabbey
BONUS TWEET For those who are interested, two of our supporters in Toronto recently recorded a version of the Northwest Passage song quoted at the beginning of this thread.
Do listen, you won't be disappointed:
