Mystery 10 of 15
10. What Exactly Happened to the Franklin Expedition?
Sir John Franklin sailed from Britain in 1845 with 129 men aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. Their mission was to navigate the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic.
Nobody returned.
Search expeditions eventually found graves, abandoned equipment, human remains, and one crucial written message. It revealed that both ships had become trapped in ice and that Franklin had died in June 1847. In April 1848, the surviving crew abandoned the vessels and attempted to travel south.
None survived.
Inuit oral histories preserved important information about the expedition, including accounts of ships and starving men. Archaeological evidence later supported reports that some members of the expedition resorted to cannibalism.
The mystery changed dramatically in the 21st century. The wreck of Erebus was located in 2014, followed by the remarkably well-preserved Terror in 2016.
Why It Is Still a Mystery
We now know the broad outline of the disaster, but not the complete sequence of events.
Researchers still debate the relative importance of starvation, scurvy, other diseases, lead exposure, environmental conditions, and decisions made by the expedition’s leadership. We also do not know exactly what happened to every group after the ships were abandoned.
The ships have been found, but their story is still incomplete.
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