IF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION HAD HAD AN ATLANTIC CABLE...

Reading, as I am doing now, "Weird and Tragic SHores", I am now aware that the first transatlantic cable was laid on the ocean between the British islands and America during the years 1854 and 1858. I´ve always supposed that it was laid soon before the first world war, but it was not. It was much sooner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_cable_Map.jpg

Charles Francis Hall was fascinated by this demonstration of science, (almost science fiction) and of modernity, a demonstration which could be compared perhaps on that time to what the human kind would think about the Moon landings years after. I am also fascinated now by this achievement, and oneself cannot, but being amazed about how a steamer and a barge crossed the Atlantic, more than one hundred and sixty years ago, laying the longest cable of the world to be able to communicate with people at thousand of miles of distance. And one also can´t avoid being less than fascinated if thinks that, while this operation was happening, the Henry Grinnell expedition together with the biggest amount of ships had ever been in the Arctic were trying to find Sir John Franklin and his lost expedition.

 

When Franklin was lost in the Arctic the comunications in the world were based on letters which crossed the earth from one side to the other. The Postal service in Britain in  the nineteenth century was surely the most effective, sure and quick one. Remember that following a postal service line, George Back crossed England from the south to the north during the beginning of the first Franklin Expedition when he lost the ship in the southeast shores of England to end reaching them in the Orkney islands soon after.

 

 It is true that the Telegraph had been already discovered, but it was still on its beginnings and, of course,  there weren´t telegraph lines in the Arctic and there weren´t neither post offices in the Arctic Archipiélago nor horses to carry rapidly to the civilization their messages with news about their discoveries, with their letters addressed to their families containing their dreams, fears and anxieties and with their SOS messages.

 

Franklin couldn´t use all those wonders, Franklin couldn´t use the telegraph though it already was a reality on that time. Balloons, bottles, pigeons, cairns and medals tied to arctic foxes were the only means available on that time for the expeditions which were in desolated regions to communicate  with the rest of the world.

 

In a crazy world which was witnessing an eruption of  discoveries and amazing scientific achievements  which increased and improved the communications in a way never seen before, paradoxically, the last and lost Franklin expedition was without any question alone.

THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION IN MODELISM

Recently William Battersby called strongly my attention  with fascinating news in his blog. Someone is preparing accurate plans to do a perfect replica of the HMS Terror. A replica of the ship made exactly as it was refitted to its last mission of 1845 to cross the Northwest Passage in the arctic, including the reinforcement of the hull, the inclusion of the screw propeller, etc.  It is wonderful to see how the work done by William and Peter Carney in their article is going to  be materialized in a real wooden ship: 

 

"Equipping HM Ships Erebus and Terror, 1845. International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology 81(2):192-211.".

 

This mysterious "Someone" is John Smith, a model ship builder, and John Smith is kindly sharing his progress in his wonderful blog. There is no need to say that we will follow closely his steps and that we will wait anxiously to see the results of this scientific and artistic reconstruction project.

 

Through his blog you can see how he is adapting and remakimg the old plans of the ship and you can check the already available different models of the hull of the ships which nowadays exist in the online pictures which the National Maritime Museum , as for example this one.

 

I´ve always thought that this world needs a beautiful diorama which was based on this expedition, but as many other lacks (lack of films, more documentaries, etc),  this will be still one of the voids that someday will be filled.

 

There have been several previous projects of making models and dioramas about the last Franklin expedition. Some of them, designed with scientific purposes, were able even to sail.

 

This one, in particular, can be seen in the fabulous John Murray´s documentary “Finding Franklin”.. A beautiful model of one of the ships can be seen sailing in a pool into a simulated pack of ice where it is tested its behavior against a frozen sea:

 

"Finding Franklin" Documentary.

 

There are other model, to me one of the most impressive at the moment, on which we can see the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror beset into the ice with the upper part of their mast removed and some men in the ice which seem to be preparing themselves for the winter, they are downloading packages, putting the deck cover and doing some other things on the ice.

 

This is the only picture I´ve been able to find about it. The procedence is the web site belonging to the Rhode Island College on which Russell Potter added the "Report of Field Survey Results" of the Irish-Canadian Franklin Search Expedition in 2004. The model, as the legends says, was exposed at the Princeof Wales Heritage Centre till 2004.

 

 

 

URL of the picture obtained from: http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/woodman/2004_Field_Report_short.htm
Diorama of HMS Erebus beset, displayed until 2004 at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre, Yellowknife (Photo: D. Holland, P5090020).

Through the original link of the PWHC we could see in a mínimum size the whole disposition of the diorama with the two ships here: 

 

http://www.pwnhc.ca/timeline/French/1800/northwestpassage_1815.htm 

Another astonishing model of the Erebus, which some time ago I posted here in my own blog, is a fascinating  icy and tiny model of the Erebus done by Rober A. Wilson.

This model, because its minimum size and its haunting appearance has always captivated me.

http://www.finewaterline.com/pages/albums/rwilson/Erebus%20Complete%20out%20of%20case%20(Large).JPG
Author: Robert A.Wilson

And to finish, one of the most intriguing ones is this other model which appears in the Wikipedia in this link: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Model_of_HMS_Erebus.JPG I have no idea where this model is displayed.

Wikipedia: HMS Erebus. Off the north coast of King William Island, Sept 1846. Sir John Franklin captaining

To finish with this issue, as a fanatic of models as I am, I´ve tried, dreamt and fighted against the elements and fought against my own lazyness, to reproduce one of the boats which Aglooka and his men dragged over the ice of Washington bay someday during the spring of 1848.

It is not necessary to mention that the project is still unfinished. I´ve subcontracted the task of painting and mounting the men who should to drag the boat to one of my brothers (which walks the dark path of the modelism as you can see here), and I have still to do the canvas which will cover the boat, the sailing, rigging and  to practice the art of simulating the snow.

 

Perhaps I will finish it someday, someday...

 

Boat seen by the Inuit in Washington Bay in 1848. Author: me.

OTHER UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTION FOR THE VICTORIAN THINKING APART OF THE CANNIBALISM IN THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

Recently, posted by my collegue Beatriz, I´ve read an article about the content of the new and modern medicine kits which are now used on Polar expeditions. On it, is mentioned that nowadays part of them are now contraceptives, the Pill, and the morning-after pill, far from the reality of the content of the old and sober medicine chests of the nineteenth century expeditions like the medicine chest found by Lt. Hobson of the last and lost Franklin expedition in the Point Victory. That medicine chest is wonderfully described and the use of the medicines inside was analized here by J.Cyriax in order to try to determine what diseases were suffering the crews at the moment of abandoning the ships.

Why then the modern expeditions include this apparently "out of place" items? Because: "Thank goodnes" the current expeditions are not anymore "All men - expeditions", It is clear that the sexual question (at least)  in  the civil expeditions have been solved in the XXI century.

But after reading, in a couple of fiction books about the Franklin expedition, at least two episodies about some intimal behaviour between men. I´ve  wondered what happened actually (sexually spoken) on those arctic expeditions. I know, or better said, I can deduce through some references and quotes about some arctic expeditions in that time that there were intimal contact between the crews and the Inuit during the course of the years which lasted those expeditions. 

Why are there so many references in the fiction books to the same fact?, How would it be the sexual live on board ships which were trapped in the ice for more than three years, if they had one? How the commanders of isolated expeditions like these dealt with them?. 

I´ve done some cursory searching and I´ve found, reading quickly, an interesting article called "Buggery and the British Navy: 1700-1861"  that the punishment for those kind of behaviours, besides of course being awfully unfair, were absolutely disproportionated, causing the death of innocent men till the end of the first thirty of the nineteenth century. Some sailors received till 1.000 lashes and some officers were even hanged for that. Between 1756 and 1816 four ship´s captains were accused, one was hanged, other cashiered and two acquietted.

The numbers published on this article speak: the second reason in the eighteen century for deserving a Death sentence was "Buggery" after the accusation of Desertion. How many innocents were killed by this "Naval laws"?

But  what happened after in the nineteenth century? The martial courts fortunately decreased. It seems that it was a direct relation between the periods of war and the number of Death sentences and punishments provoked by these causes. In the first place because the cases of "buggering" decreased and also because the naval officers and sailors were more reluctant to report the known cases and this find its explanation on that there was a change of mind of that time that related the homosexuality with some kind of mental disorder. The explanation about the correspondency between the war time and the increasing of buggery accusations seems to be based on the increase of the number of people recruited to fill the war ships, which were taken from all kinds of background levels and countries.

The last man executed by this accusation was William Maxwell, a boatswain who was hanged the 7 of january of 1829 and, as far as I know,  there weren´t sailor, officer or captain who were executed in any artic expedition. 

THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION GAMES

The last and lost Franklin expedition has inspired hundreds of books, some of them historical books, others fiction ones, other times it has insired poems even and songs.. but what it is perhaps less known is that this ill-fated expedition has also inspired the construction of some toys and even recently  has also inspired new and fascinating board games.

 

The first and oldest toy which I know is this item done likely by Roullet & Decamps. This kind of figures are called Automaton. This particular one could have been done in the late 19th. On this Automaton one of the sailors is persecuted by a Polar Bear while he climbs a ladder. The other sailor tries to defend himself from the bear waving an ice axe.

 

http://p2.la-img.com/364/23050/8108525_1_l.jpg
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/8108525
Source: http://www.liveauctioneers.com



 

Much more recently, in 2009, Russell Potter found this original replica of one of the famous Goldner red tins:

 

http://visionsnorth.blogspot.com.es/2009/11/franklin-curiosities-toy-replica-of.HTML

 

In 2012, three Spanish guys had the happy idea of making a board game based on the idea of the location of the Northwest Passage in the nineteenth century. The Board game is called "Northwest Passage adventure", apparently it has been done with the utmost careful and it has been based on accurate historical characters, ships and facts.

 

It seems that it is a funny game, besides the appearance, (box, the cards, etc.), is more than attractive for those who are captivated for the history of the discovery of the Northwest Passage. In the game you can play the role of characters as famous as John Richardson, Thomas Simpson, Robert McLure, John Franklin, William E. Parry, etc. You can find a more detailed description and pictures of the game here:

 

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/128662/northwest-passage-adventure

 

But this year, or better said, this month, a French man Yves Tourigny  has developed a new board game which is called "Expedition: Northwest Passage", a new board game on which, the objective is basically going to the Canadian arctic archipiélago to locate the lost Franklin expedition, you have to deal with blocked ice passages, obtain information from the inuits, find lost cairns, etc. this game seems to be, as its predecesor, a funny and fascinating board game:

 

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71074/expedition-northwest-passage

 

What is going to come now? A videogame? A rol game?, 

 

What is clear is that the fascination that the Northwest Passage, the Franklin expedition and other related facts exerts over the public is deriving towards new horizons, which in this modern world on which we live of unlimited computerized possibilites, is sure that is going to amaze us soon.

 

THE MYSTERIOUS LOST BALLOON OF THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION

Recently I´ve found a reference about what could have been the last message sent by one of the last survivors of the Franklin expedition.  A message which crossed the North Atlantic ocean in a month. The message only said the following:

"Erebus, 112 W, Long, 71 deg. N. Lat. September, 3, 1851. Blocked in"

Apparently these are exciting news, though the lenght of the message might been considered absurdily short. But, take it easy, before celebrating it, we should check some points:

- Could  anyone actually still be alive on board of the HMS Erebus ship in the year 1851?

The expedition would have lasted six years, John Ross wasn´t in the Arctic so many time on his expedition of 1829 so there wasn´t any previous similar experience of this kind. The ships were abandoned in the spring of 1848 and the note found together with the balloon is from september of 1851, more than three years after the abandoning. Too much time!.

But...it could be, they had enough food for three years (or four or five depending some sources) and some Inuit testimonies and other evidences like the boat found with two skeletons pointing to the northwest are telling us that perhaps some men remanned the ships.

- Was the Franklin expedition armed with these kind of balloons?

It seems that they weren´t equipped with them, but at that time, in 1850, the rescue expedition commanded by Horatio Austin was in the area releasing ballons like this, so some of the last survivors could have taken one of this balloons and having put his own message in a desperate attempt to be rescued.

- Could have been correct the position of the ship?

This is in my opinión the most strange thing. By that time the position of the ships hadn´t been deduced. McClinctock get the Victory point note in the year 1859. Eight years after of the appearance of the note of the balloon. Some time before, in 1854 John Rae had been exploring the area of the Boothia Penninsula where he heared stories about the Franklin men walking and dying in KWI. Three years after the finding of the balloon note.

The Horatio Austin expedition had orders of searching Franklin through the Wellington Channel and the región near Cape Walker, that means, in an área completely wrong. Then, the note of the balloon was giving the most accurate position of the ships till the moment, and that signal was arriving within a period where it would be still likely to find at least some of those poor men alive.

It is true that the exact position given by the note place us over a point on the Victoria Island but, again a mistery, the note seems to be written by a non seaman, as it is well explained here in the book "Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers: And other odd events on the way to scientific discovery ", the author could have perfectly been wrong on the determination of the longitude, which, as far as I know , it is pretty hard to determine.

It was  "The Times" which was the first on giving this news, likely in the date 11th of october of 1851, followed by the New York Times a week after, you can see the description of the moment when the note was found and the subsequent investigation driven by the Admiralty here.

The Captains Beechey and Penny were the men in charge of determining the autenthicity of the balloon. The result of their interviews was that in fact that ballon belonged to the Admiralty and that it likely was sent by some man of the Franklin expedition.

Then, as a sort of conclusión:

Could Mrs Russell, the woman who said that 5th of october of 1851 -"Run out" - "There is a balloon in the garden!" and the same  who was quietly preparing a meeting for her friend that morning in Wotton, Gloucester, be the receptor of the last desperate message of SOS sent by one of the last men standing of the Franklin expedition? Or was all this facts a mere farce constructed by some unescrupulous man or woman. And if it was the case... with what objective?

To make the things even more difficult to understand, the Museum of Kensington count on its exposition with a balloon which was allegedly designed for rescuing the lost explorers. In my opinion, because the apparent size of this object and because the description done in the article of the New York TImes of the balloon, I think that perhaps this could be a section of the original communication ballon found that quiet evening of october in Wotton, Gloucester:

http://museumsecrets.tv/dossier.php?o=182

THE LAST FRANKLIN EXPEDITION AND THE NORTH MAGNETIC POLE

It was after reading some comments written by some friends about if the main objective of the last Franklin expedition was discovering and crossing the Northwest Passage (which of course it was) or, doing magnetic observations than again a doubt in my head has sprung.

No matter if it really was  one of the main objectives or not, it is hard to believe that, having being trapped the Erebus and Terror ships so close to the Magnetic North Pole and for so many time (see the below reference), no attempt were done in order to reach that coveted point.

 "25th April 1848 HMShips Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April 5 leagues NNW of this having been beset since 12th Sept 1846". Excerpt from the Victory Point Record.



 Source Wikipedia: Magnetic north pole positions of the Earth. Poles shown are dip poles, defined as positions where the direction of the magnetic field is vertical. Red circles mark magnetic north pole positions as determined by direct observation, blue circles mark positions modelled using the GUFM model (1590–1980) and the IGRF model (1980–2010) in 2 year increments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magnetic_North_Pole_Positions.svg



As it is posible to see in the above picture,  the Magnetic North Pole drifted from the North to the South since the year 1600 and after1810 or so  (where, precisely and by pure coincidence, it found its  inflexión point  in the King William Island) it began to go northwards till it was reached in 1831 by James Clark Ross in the course of the John Ross expedition in the HMS Victory ship. From 1831 to 1904 it doesn´t seem that the North Pole had drifted so much, then it is plausible to imagine that its position could have been near in 1847. The Franklin expedition was even nearest from it than the Ross´es were in 1831 when they were in Felix harbor.

Then, on 25 of May of 1847 the ships were on a privileged position to reach the North Magnetic Pole, "28 of May 1847 H.M.S.hips Erebus and Terror Wintered in the Ice in Lat. 70°5'N Long. 98°.23'W". Excerpt from the Victory Point Record.

  

They were only 16 miles northwest of Cape Felix, from Cape Felix to the Clarence Islands there is only 14 miles and from there to the position of the North Magnetic Pole there is another 30 miles or so. We have to have into account that a White man´s cairn is described by David Woodman in the book "Unravelling the Franklin Mistery" pg. 75. This Carn can demonstrate that an attempt to reach the North Magnetic Pole was done by a sledge party from Cape Felix going eastwards. In the Wikipedia´s description of the expedition  we can find a reference about the searching of this misterious cairn, which it seems to be that it was never found:

"In 1995, an expedition was jointly organised by Woodman, George Hobson, and American adventurer Steven Trafton – with each party planning a separate search. Trafton's group travelled to the Clarence Island to investigate Inuit stories of a "white man's cairn" there but found nothing. Dr. Hobson's party, accompanied by archaeologist Margaret Bertulli, investigated the "summer camp" found a few miles to the south of Cape Felix, where some minor Franklin relics were found. Woodman, with two companions, travelled south from Wall Bay to Victory Point and investigated all likely campsites along this coast, finding only some rusted cans at a previously unknown campsite near Cape Maria Louisa. "

Aproximated position of the ships, north magnetic pole cairns and so on by Andrés Paredes in Google Earth.

If the Lieutenant Graham Gore together with Charles DesVoeux and six men reached point Victory from the ships in only three days, (16 miles to Cape Felix plus 24 from Cape Felix to Victory Point, measured in Google earth always as the crow flies),  it is fair to asume that the Franklin expedition had established a base camp in Cape Felix to launch from there several sledges parties towards different points, for example toward the west coast of KWI (Victory point), towards the east coast of KWI (as other relics found there seems to demonstrate), and of course towards the North Magnetic Pole which should be then some miles north of the point reached by J.C.Ross in 1831.

Position of the ships, North magnetic pole in 1831 and the Victory Point by Andrés Paredes in Google Earth.

Then, and here comes my conclusión, I think that, the men of the last Franklin expedition could well and easily having reached the North Magnetic Pole in the summer of 1847 when the things on board still were "All Well", and that if someone, someday is able to establish the exact position of the North Magnetic Pole the year of 1847, they will find there (hopefully and for my understanding, LIKELY) the rests of a sledge party camp and perhaps the rests of another observation Cairn and they could then add to the rest of the achievements asigned to their expedition, the fact of having reached, again, this Grial of the magnetic observations and science.

BEDFORD CLAPPERTON TREVELYAN PIM THE CO-FIRST ON CROSSING THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

Among the long list of "first discoverers" or "the first on crossing" the Northwest Passage (NWP), the name of Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim, perhaps could be one of the less named by the historians and for those who had been always arguing about "who  was really the first" on discovering or crossing the path across the frozen labirynth. But he really was one of them, one of those who could be named "one of the first".

Leaving apart the discussion about if it was S.J. Franklin or the Dr. Rae the first on discovering the South NWP (I prefer not to mention here Francisco Ferrer Maldonado in order to avoid blushing myself), it is undoubtely McLure, who must wear the laurels of having been the first on joining all, till the date, lost points of that singular, dangerous and frozen puzzle which conforms the North NWP.

He reached the farthest point gained by Parry in 1819 in Winter Harbour in the Melville Island and he leaves proofs there under a Cairn to demonstrate his succes on having linked the both ends of that broken rope. This same message was later the key for his rescue. 

But, McLure, also wears the laurels of having been the first on doing the first crossing of the passage from its east side to the west, part on his own ship (HMS Investigator till it was abandoned in Mercy Bay), part on foot over the ice, and part on the ships of the Edward Belcher rescue expedition. And it is here where it grows my doubt.

It was Bedford Pim who found the desperate McClure, just on time before he will send the weakest men of his crew towards a certain dead, (this assertion could be discussed on later posts, because as always, there are some extenuating circunstances which could justify such apparent cruel decission).

Bedford Pim appeared in the scene of the McLure Drama in such way:

"While walking near the ship, in conversation with the first Lieutenant upon the subject of digging a grave for the man who died yesterday, and discussing how we could cut a grave in the ground whilst it was so hardly froze- a subject we perceived a figure walking rapidly towards us from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. From his pace and gestures we both naturally supposed at first that he was some one of ourparty pursued by a bear, but as we approached him doubts arose as to who it could be"

(pg. 289 Discovery of the Northwest Passage by McLure).

Of course it was Bedford Pim who, with 27 years old, had reached the HMS Investigator in april of 1853. He had walked from Dealy Island (in front of Melville Island) where the HMS Resolute had wintered (more tan 200 miles as the crow flies). The rest of the description of that encounter is impressive, and I reccomend its Reading (pg. 289 Discovery of the Northwest Passage by McLure).

Then, here it is where has raised the seed of a doubt into my brain. Of course it was Robert McLure who joined the lost points and those laurels must be attached fixedly to his head, but before he crossed the passage towards the east, Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim had previously walked all that way towards the west. Yes, I know, it is true, he returns from this point to his ships in Dealy Island, so he couldn´t wear by himself the honour of being the first on crossing the NWP, ...then?.

Then, my doubt is:

Is it fair assigning the title of being the first on crossing the NWP only to Mc Lure?

Or perhaps it would it be more fair consider that it was a dual accomplishment?.

At the end Pim had traveled aproximately 850 miles  from the east end of Lancaster sound (which could be considered the east end of the NWP) versus the 350 miles sailed by McLure from what we could consider the entrance of the east side of the NWP, the Baillie Islands to Mercy Bay.

In my opinión, the first crossing of the NWP corresponds two thirds to Bedford Pim and one third to Robert McLure.

Besides these considerations, it is interesting to mention here that Bedford Pim, before being involved in the Edward Belcher expedition did an extraordinary effort trying to organize a searching expedition to locate the Erebus and Terror ships in the north Russian shores. The reason? because he thought that Franklin could have gone through the Wellington chanel towards the North Pole, and on havong encountered there a free ice sea, he could have reached those distant shores. There is an interesting article about the posible location of the Erebus and Terror ships in hte Russian waters here: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic45-1-36.pdf. There is also a later manifest on which Bedford Pim tries to expose more reasons to clarify the fate of the men of the Franklin expedition, the doccument is called: "An earnest appeal to the British public on behalf of the missing Arctic expedition"

But all this thing is, as it is said in the "Neverending story", another tale.