Who'd
have believed that 2 little boys, John and Francis, growing up in
Britain,
would become not only sailors...they became expeditioners
and explorers...
whose names would go down in history books, long to
be remembered?
Understandable, considering Britain to be a sea-going country with a great Navy.
Understandable, considering Britain to be a sea-going country with a great Navy.
The life of John and Francis
is 'History behind the History'.
The HMS
Terror...(launched in
1813)..was a bomb vessel designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed
by the Royal Navy. It saw service in the 'War of 1812' against
United States. In 1828, she was commissioned for service in the
Mediterranean ~ running aground near Lisbon, Portugal, as a result of
a hurricane. Repaired for Arctic service in 1836, command of
'Terror' was given to Captain George Beck for an expedition to the
northern part of Hudson Bay with a view to entering Repulse Bay.
'Terror' failed to reach this Bay and barely survived the winter on
Southampton Island, at one point being forced 40 feet up the side a
cliff by the ice. In the spring of 1837, an encounter with an
iceberg further damaged the ship which was in a sinking condition by
the time Beck was able to beach the ship on the coast of Ireland at
Lough Swilly. Repaired, 'Terror' and 'Erebus' were next assigned
expeditions to the Antarctic; they made 3 forays from 1840-1843,
sailing through the Weddell Sea. The volcano, Mount Terror on Ross
Island was named after the ship.
The HMS Erebus...was
also designed by Sir Henry Peake and constructed by the Royal Navy in
Pembroke dockyard, Wales in 1826. A Hecia-class bomber vessel, she
was named after the dark region in Hades, of Greek mythology named
'Erebus'. After 2 years of service in the Mediterranean, 'Erebus'
was refitted as an exploration vessel for Antarctic service.
Captained by James Clark Ross, she departed from Tasmania for
Antarctica in company with 'Terror'. In 1841, the crew of both ships
landed on Victoria Land and proceeded to name areas of landscapes
after British politicians, scientists and acquaintances. Mount
Erebus on Ross Island was named after the ship itself. They then
discovered the Ross Ice Shelf which they were unable to penetrate.
Late in the season, they returned to Tasmania. The following
season, 1842, they continued to survey the Great Ice Barrier. The
two ships wintered in the Falkland Islands before returning to the
Antarctic for the remaining1842 season and 1843 season. The ships
conducted studies in magnetism
and returned oceanographic
data and collections of
botanical and
ornithological specimens.
Franklin's
Lost Expedition
Both
ships were outfitted with steam engines and iron plating was added to
the hulls on their voyage to the Arctic with Sir John
Franklin as the overall command of the expedition in 'Erebus' and
'Terror' under the command of Captain Francis
Moira Crozier. They were ordered to gather magnetic
data
in the Canadian Arctic and complete a crossing of the Northwest
Passage...which had already been charted from both the east and the
west....but not entirely navigated. They entered Baffin Bay in
August 1845. The disappearance of the Franklin expedition set off a
massive search of the Arctic and the broad circumstances of the
expedition's fate were revealed during a series of expeditions
between 1848 and 1866. Both ships had become ice-bound and were
abandoned by their crews...all of whom died of exposure and
starvation while trying to trek overland to Fort Resolution, a
Hudson's Bay outpost 600 miles to the southeast. Subsequent search
expeditions continued up until the late 1980's : information was
gleaned from autopsies of the crew members, testimonies from the
local Inuit; also revealed was that their canned rations may have
been tainted by both lead
and botulism. Remains
of a few crew members were found on King William Island in the late
20th
century.
On
August 15, 2008, Parks Canada, an agency of the Government of Canada,
announced a CDN $75,000 six-week research, deploying the icebreaker
CCGS
Sir Wilfred Laurier
(named after a Prime Minister of Canada) with the goal of finding
the two ships. The search also intended to strengthen Canada's
claims of sovereignty
over large portions of the Arctic. Further
attempts to locate the ships in 2010, 2011 and 2012 ~ all of which
have failed to locate the ships' remains.
On
September 8, 2014, it was announced that the wreckage of one of
Franklin's ships was found on the 7th
of September using a remotely operated undersea vehicle recently
acquired by Parks Canada.
(At this writing, it is not yet known which ship has been found...
but the remains of the ship(s) are designated as a National Historic
Site of Canada.)
The precise location is withheld in order to preserve the wreck and
to prevent looting. Is this wreck "The Terror"...or is it "The Erebus"?
Yes! Recent knowledge indicates it is 'Erebus'.
Be sure to read Part 2 of this significant history!
Man's merit lieth in service and virtue...
and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches.
Written by the Rhui Institute
(Quote sent to me by Meg)
Merle Baird-Kerr...written October 2, 2014
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