 In
the summer of 1845, British explorer Sir John Franklin led an expedition
in search of the Northwest Passage in what is now the Canadian Arctic.
The two wooden sailing ships "The Erebus" and "The
Terror" had a total of 129 men on board when they were last
seen entering the ice choked Davis Strait. They all perished and
the ships have never been found. We know that they circled Cornwallis
Island and spent the first winter on Beechey Island. In the spring
of 1846, the ships broke free of the ice and sailed southwards towards
King William Island where they got caught in an ice jam. This became
their home for the next two years and when it became apparent that
the ships would never break free, they abandoned them and headed
to the nearest land. On April 25, 1848 thay landed at Victory Point
on King William Island. They made a desperate attempt to head southwards
to be rescued but it appears that they all perished during the next
few weeks.. The stories of the local Inuit people who witnessed
their struggle and the discovery of a single note left by Franklin's
men under a cairn are all that we have to go on.
In 1992 Barry Ranford and Mike Yaraskevich went to King William
Island and hired some local Inuit to take them out onto the land.
Barry discovered what he thought was an old Franklin campsite and
returned to share the story with his friend John Harrington. Between
them they sought government approval and private sponsorship for
a return trip in the summer of 1993. The government of The Northwest
Territories provided approval and support and private corporations
provided funding for what turned out to be a very historic trip.
The expedition proved among other things that Franklin's men were
forced into cannibalism in a last desperate attempt to survive.
Of the 300 bones collected by the team and later analysed by Dr
Anne Keenleyside at MacMaster University, more than 90 of them had
knife marks consistant with cannibalism.
With the death of Barry Ranford in 1996 John assumed the role of
team leader and has made a total of ten trips in search of evidence
of the Franklin Expedition. John's team varies from year to year
but the goal remains the same: find out as much as you can before
the forces of nature destroy the evidence. Over the years John has
likely walked more than a thousand miles and has travelled hundreds
more on the Arctic Ocean in an 18 foot aluminum boat. John has helped
gather and bury the remains of 14 of Franklin's men. His teams have
made some amazing discoveries including 3 Franklin lifeboats, several
encampments and countless artifacts. The rules of travelling in
the area are very simple: don't touch anything and report all finds
to the government authorities. Only with government permission were
the human remains gathered and buried.
John has kept meticulous notes of each trip in diary format. Each
diary has numerous sketches done in exacting detail. John is making
copies of these diaries available in very limited edition. Only
129 beautifully bound copies of each diary will be done, each one
in memory of one of Franklin's crew. Each one will have the sketches
hand coloured by John - truly a collector's item. They will sell
for $350 Canadian each and should be ordered directly from John.
(see "contact us")
Allow 6 weeks for delivery. |
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Skull |
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John Harrington working on diary |
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Copies of diaries |
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