The Doomed Franklin Expedition—Finally Found

In 1845, two ships left England to locate the Northwest Passage, the fabled waterway believed to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They vanished without a trace. The HMS Erebus and its sister ship, HMS Terror, were under the command of Sir John Franklin and carried a total of 128 officers and men. They departed England on May 19, 1845. Locating and mapping the Northwest Passage had been a quest of many of Europe's most skilled mariners for nearly four centuries.

The two ships had already proven their capability in the ice filled waters of Antarctica. A little over two months after leaving England, the Erebus and Terror were spotted in Baffin Bay (Canada) just east of what was acknowledged as the passage's entrance. Then the ships and their crew disappeared.

Subsequent rescue missions turned up a few clues—three graves at one site and a note at another site dated April 1848. That note said Franklin and 23 others were dead, the ships had been trapped in the ice for 18 months, and that the survivors were abandoning ship and attempting to make their way across land. Other clues were randomly discovered but didn't lead anywhere. There were stories from the local Inuit people about ships that disappeared beneath the ice.

For 170 years, little bits and pieces of information was all that existed of this unsolved mystery. Then in September 2014, searchers found the Erebus in just 36 feet of water. Two years later, another search team found the Terror northwest of the Erebus in deeper water. Rather than supplying answers to what happened, the discoveries only created more questions. The wrecks were in the wrong place. Terror was about 60 miles south of where the 1848 note said the ships had been abandoned and Erebus was another 30 miles south of where Terror was found.

According to some archeologists, it's possible for the abandoned vessels to have been carried to their final location by the same ice that had trapped them. Although it is surprising that the two ships should be found so far from where they were deserted, the wreck site of the Erebus is precisely where Intuit oral traditions have long said one of the ships sank. The Inuit information was initially discounted by the British officials. In more recent times, however, the accuracy of the Inuit testimonies have been increasingly acknowledged.

In August 2019, incredible underwater video of HMS Terror showed a wreck that appeared to be frozen in time. Perhaps, somewhere on the wreck, are clues to what really happened. Now, after 175 years, the fate of the Erebus and Terror might finally be solved.

**I, personally, question the wisdom of setting sail on a voyage of discovery, traveling half way around the world to chart an unknown passage through dangerous waters, in a ship named Terror.**  :)