Dr. Robert Park, University of Waterloo gives and exciting and informative account of how Franklin's ship, Erebus was found. From archaeology to history to local knowledge, learn how one of Canada's oldest mysteries was finally solved.
Speaking of the boat place, what happened to the boat that was discovered? Did it rot away over time after it was initially discovered? Similarly do the cairns the messages were recovered from still exist or did those get lost or dismantle as the decades went by?
I'm pretty sure the Inuit eventually found and mostly broke down the boat for the wood. Some of the cairns still exist but they've pretty much all been broken down somewhat by either the Inuit scavenging them, or the investigation teams looking for documents.
@@aaronmason7710 Pity. I understand they found at least one journal on one of the wrecks but I haven't heard it it's been recovered or told them anything.
I'm not sure if it's THE boat from the McClintock boat place, but there is part of a ship's boat from the Franklim expedition on display at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich I believe.
It was full of impassable ice, as it often is even today. Ice pack is incredibly common here and most who actually do traverse through do turn south and follow very close to the route Franklin's expedition was trying to take. Unfortunately, the mid- and late-1840s had some of the coldest years on record and the ice didn't melt even in summer.
I think that the possibility of at least some of the Franklin expedition being killed by the local Inuit is realistic. It has become a taboo subject and it is politically incorrect to question the lifestyle or motives of indigenous people but one of the Inuit groups who inhabited or visited the area of Prince William Island were the Ukjulingmiut who were being pushed to the extremities of the area by the neighbouring and more aggressive Netsilingmiut. All the Inuit reports of sightings and contact with the Franklin party are from Netsilingmiut oral history, since the Ukjulingmiut died out about 1850 after becoming the victims of famine and inter tribal violence. The Erebus and Terror had 14 Marines on board so it could be presumed that professional soldiers might be needed, for defence, perhaps. It's hard to imagine why soldiers would be on board if violent attack was not a possibility, the only likelyhood being from the Inuit. A number of Franklin party remains have been found on islets, either separated by mud or sea from the main island. These might have made defensive positions. This whole scenario is little spoken of. Perhaps it should be.
The purpose of Marines on ship is multifaceted. Yes marines would be there as a line of defense against hostilities but they were also attached to every Royal Navy ship since the conception of the Royal Marines. They also would have been used as lookouts, scouts, lead hunting parties and in some instances serve as impromptu Master at Arms for the ships. I don’t think they anticipated or even heavily considered hostilities from the local population due to the nature of the mission.
They had plenty of there stuff including personal items. It was the same guy that eary on talked about cannibalism that wrote about it. I think they robbed the bodies. I can't see them risking an attack against well armed men that were clearly going to die soon enough.
