Owen Beattie - Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition

THE FIELD and laboratory researches of the Franklin Forensic Project, and the Franklin Osteology Project, described in this book, were supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, the Polar Continental Shelf Project and the University of Alberta. Sincerest thanks go to these organizations and agencies.

Additional support for various phases of the project was received from the Park Nicollet Medical Foundation, the Science Advisory Board (NWT), Alberta Workers Health and Compensation and Taymor Canada.

Without the energy, insight, understanding, co-operation and dedication of those who participated in the field research, this book (and the research) would not have been possible. On Beechey Island: Walt Kowal, Eric Damkjar, Arne Carlson, Roger Amy, Joelee Nungaq, James Savelle, Derek Notman, Larry Anderson, Brian Spenceley, Geraldine Ruszala and Barb Schweger. And on King William Island: Arsien Tungilik, Karen Digby, Kovic Hiqiniq and Mike Aleekee. Thanks are also due to Dr. K. Kowalewska-Grochowska, University of Alberta Hospital; Sylvia Chomyc, Tuberculosis Control Unit, Provincial Laboratory of Public Health (Alberta), and the Netsilik Archaeology Project (James Savelle).

The authors would also like to thank the staff of the following institutions for their assistance with historical and archival research: the British Library, the British Archives, the University of Alberta libraries, including the Canadian Circumpolar Library, the University of Toronto libraries and the Toronto Reference Library. In addition, special thanks go to Donald Bray, Sten Nadolney, Patrick Walsh of Conville & Walsh, Matthew Swan of Adventure Canada and Rob Sanders. Margaret Atwood is profoundly thanked.

In memorium: Arne Carlson, who, with his wife Lesley Mitchell, died tragically in December 1998.

IMAGE CREDITS

Photos: All photos are by Dr. Owen Beattie, except where noted.

REPRINT CREDITS

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Quotation from The Ries by William T. Vollmann. Penguin Books, New York. 1995 William T. Vollmann. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.

Quotation from The Age of Lead by Margaret Atwood. Wilderness Tips. McClelland & Stewart, Toronto. 1991 O.W. Toad Ltd. Reprinted with kind permission of the author.

Quotation from Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen. The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen: The Early Years (Volume One), eds. Margaret Atwood and Barry Callaghan. Exile Editions, Toronto. 1993. Reprinted with kind permission of the publisher.

Chorus from Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers. The album Northwest Passage. 1981 Fogartys Cove Music. Reprinted with kind permission of Fogartys Cove Music and Ariel Rogers.

List of the officers and crews of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror taken from their Muster Books, 1845. Source: Admiralty Records, Public Record Office.

HMS Erebus

CAPTAIN Sir John Franklin

COMMANDER James Fitzjames

LIEUTENANTS Graham Gore, H.T.D. Le Vesconte, James W. Fairholme

MATES Robert O. Sargent, Charles F. Des Voeux, Edward Couch

SECOND MASTER Henry F. Collins

SURGEON Stephen S. Stanley

ACTING ASSISTANT-SURGEON Harry D.S. Goodsir

PAYMASTER AND PURSER Charles H. Osmer

ACTING MASTER James Reid

WARRANT OFFICERS John Gregory (engineer), Thomas Terry (boatswain), John Weekes (carpenter)

PETTY OFFICERS Philip Reddington (captain of the forecastle), Thomas Watson (carpenters mate), John Murray (sailmaker), James W. Brown (caulker), William Smith (blacksmith), Samuel Brown (boatswains mate), Richard Wall (cook), James Rigden (captains coxswain), John Sullivan (captain of the maintop), Robert Sinclair (captain of the foretop), Joseph Andrews (captain of the hold), Edmund Hoar (captains steward), Richard Aylmore (gunroom steward), Daniel Arthur (quartermaster), John Downing (quartermaster), William Bell (quartermaster), Francis Dunn (caulkers mate), William Fowler (paymaster and pursers steward), John Bridgens (subordinate officers steward), James Hart (leading stoker), John Cowie (stoker), Thomas Plater (stoker)

ABLE SEAMEN Henry Lloyd, John Stickland, Thomas Hartnell, John Hartnell, George Thompson, William Orren, Charles Coombs, William Closson, William Mark, Thomas Work, Charles Best, George Williams, John Morfin, Thomas Tadman, Abraham Seely, Thomas McConvey, Robert Ferrier, Josephus Geater, Robert Johns, Francis Pocock

ROYAL MARINES David Bryant (sergeant), Alexander Paterson (corporal), Joseph Healey (private), William Braine (private), William Reed (private), Robert Hopcraft (private), William Pilkington (private)

BOYS George Chambers, David Young

HMS Terror

CAPTAIN Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier

LIEUTENANTS Edward Little, John Irving, George H. Hodgson

MATES Robert Thomas, Frederick John Hornby

SECOND MASTER Gillies A. Macbean

SURGEON John S. Peddie

ASSISTANT SURGEON Alexander MacDonald

CLERK-IN-CHARGE E.J.H. Helpman

ACTING MASTER Thomas Blanky

WARRANT OFFICERS Thomas Honey (carpenter), John Lane (boatswain), James Thompson (engineer)

PETTY OFFICERS Reuben Male (captain of the forecastle), Thomas Johnson (boatswains mate), John Torrington (leading stoker), Alexander Wilson (carpenters mate), David MacDonald (quartermaster), William Rhodes (quartermaster), John Kenley (quartermaster), Thomas Darlington (caulker), John Diggle (cook), Thomas Farr (captain of the maintop), Henry Peglar (captain of the foretop), John Wilson (captains coxswain), Samuel Honey (blacksmith), William Goddard (captain of the hold), Thomas Jopson (captains steward), Thomas Armitage (gunroom steward), Cornelius Hickey (caulkers mate), Edward Genge (paymasters steward), William Gibson (subordinate officers steward), Luke Smith (stoker), William Johnson (stoker)

ABLE SEAMEN George Cann, William Shanks, David Sims, William Sinclair, William Jerry, Henry Sait, Alexander Berry, John Bailey, Samuel Crispe, John Bates, William Wentzall, William Strong, John Handford, Charles Johnson, David Leys, George Kinnaird, Magnus Manson, James Walker, Edwin Laurence

ROYAL MARINES Solomon Tozer (sergeant), William Hedges (corporal), Henry Wilks (private), John Hammond (private), James Daly (private), William Heather (private)

BOYS Robert Golding, Thomas Evans

Four crewmen who returned to Britain on the Barretto Junior and the Rattler before the Erebus and Terror entered the Arctic: Thomas Burt (armourer), John Brown (able seaman), James Elliot (sailmaker), William Aitken (Royal Marine private)

Major expeditions involved in the search for HMS Erebus and HMS Terror:

184647 Dr. John Rae (overland)

184749 Sir John Richardson and Dr. John Rae (overland)

184849 Captain Sir James Clark Ross, Captain E.J. Bird (HMS Enterprise & HMS Investigator)

184850 Captain Henry Kellett (HMS Herald)

184852 Captain Thomas Moore (HMS Plover)

184950 Lieutenant James Saunders (HMS North Star)

185051 U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edwin J. De Haven, U.S. Navy Lieutenant S.P. Griffin (Advance & Rescue)

185051 Captain Horatio Austin, Captain Erasmus Ommanney, Lieutenant Sherard Osborn, Lieutenant Bertie

Cator (HMS Resolute, HMS Assistance, HMS Intrepid, HMS Pioneer)*

185051 Captain William Penny, Alexander Stewart (Lady Franklin & Sophia)*

185051 Rear Admiral Sir John Ross (Felix)

1850 Captain C.C. Forsyth (