# Franklin's Lost Expedition - Found **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 9, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980 "2014-09-09T17:39:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/21 "2014-09-09T20:01:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > … There’s a famous photo of one of them, when they opened his coffin for an autopsy about fifteen years ago - can probably find it somewhere on the web. Scroll over to page 6 of 13 in the gallery below. Warning: It’s a graphic picture of a corpse, so if you’re not into that sort of thing then don’t click over. [Warning!](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/franklin-expedition-ship-discovered/article20490780/?from=20490498) Only click to page 6 if you can handle frozen corpses. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/22 "2014-09-09T20:05:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It’s not the fact that Bismarck is a war grave, but a war ship, that excludes it from the ordinary salvage laws. Well Hell, the British sank her! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/23 "2014-09-09T22:27:47Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Scroll over to page 6 of 13 in the gallery below. Thanks, **Leaffan** - that’s what I was thinking of. Even if folks don’t want to go to picture # 6, the first five pictures sure show how desolate King William Island is. And that’s in the summer! Trying to survive there in the winter, without adequate supplies… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/24 "2014-09-10T13:48:15Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Thanks, **Leaffan** - that’s what I was thinking of. > > Even if folks don’t want to go to picture # 6, the first five pictures sure show how desolate King William Island is. And that’s in the summer! Trying to survive there in the winter, without adequate supplies… :eek: Those defrosted corpsicle pics seriously creeped me the hell out when they were first published. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/25 "2014-09-10T19:37:41Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > The British government then poured tremendous resources into searching for the Franklin expedition. “No, Tommy. It Wasn’t the Franklin Mint. Anyway…” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/26 "2014-09-10T19:59:25Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > He listened solemnly, according our unofficial national anthem its due respect. I thought that was the theme to “Hockey Night in Canada”? ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/27 "2014-09-10T23:04:31Z")
The site is very, very close to the “Approximate location of ships when deserted” on one of the maps in Beattie and Geiger’s 1987 classic _Frozen in Time_. Indeed, much, much better than the previous search areas. Chalk one up for the historians? No, the British government will just not claim jurisdiction. A fascinating joint bit of history that we’ll defer to the locals. Still, hardly “[the biggest archaeological discovery](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29131757) the world has seen since the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb almost 100 years ago”. It’s surely not even [the most important discovery in Canadian archaeology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Anse_aux_Meadows) in that period. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/28 "2014-09-11T03:13:24Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Searchers have already found [three graves already](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin's_lost_expedition#Beechey_Island_excavations_and_exhumations_.281984_and_1986.29), on [Beechey Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechey_Island), well to the north of the location of the wreck, where the expedition over-wintered the first year. They were probably the first three to die. The corpses were extremely well-preserved after a century and a half in permafrost. There’s a famous photo of one of them, when they opened his coffin for an autopsy about fifteen years ago - can probably find it somewhere on the web. [John Torrington.](http://jasonponic.hubpages.com/hub/johntorrington) The link has a link to the documentary film at the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/29 "2014-09-11T07:40:49Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Searchers have already found [three graves already](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin's_lost_expedition#Beechey_Island_excavations_and_exhumations_.281984_and_1986.29), on [Beechey Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechey_Island), well to the north of the location of the wreck, where the expedition over-wintered the first year. They were probably the first three to die. The corpses were extremely well-preserved after a century and a half in permafrost. There’s a famous photo of one of them, when they opened his coffin for an autopsy about fifteen years ago - can probably find it somewhere on the web. Nitpick…those graves have actually been known since 1850, when the first rescue expedition to find anything at all occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/30 "2014-09-14T17:24:30Z")
The first [underwater video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3IuUspyhpo) of the wreck has been released. No news yet on whether she’s the _Terror_ or _Erebus_. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/31 "2014-09-14T19:36:54Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The first [underwater video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3IuUspyhpo) of the wreck has been released. No news yet on whether she’s the _Terror_ or _Erebus_. Cool! What is all that trash floating around in the arctic ocean? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/32 "2014-09-14T22:45:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Cool! What is all that trash floating around in the arctic ocean? Algae, mostly, I think. It clumps up, especially when there’s been an algal bloom. Possibly something like [marine snow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_snow), though that term usually applies to detritus sinking into water deeper than surface light penetrates. Some of it might also be silt stirred up by activity around the wreck, but it doesn’t look like they’re disturbing too much. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/33 "2014-09-15T01:37:26Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > The first [underwater video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3IuUspyhpo) of the wreck has been released. No news yet on whether she’s the _Terror_ or _Erebus_. I wonder if the vertical wall on the right at the end is (part of) the hull, if that is the case the ship is in remarkable shape. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/34 "2014-09-15T01:47:03Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > I wonder if the vertical wall on the right at the end is (part of) the hull, if that is the case the ship is in remarkable shape. I believe you’re correct; initial reports describe the hull, and structure, to be in very good shape. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/35 "2014-09-15T14:20:04Z")
On a morbid note it’s probable that there are remains of the crew on board, when they had to abandon ship there were likely crewmen who were immobile and who could not be moved. If you want some good nightmare fodder - seriously, don’t click unless you have a strong stomach, John Torrington wasn’t the only body found on Beechey Island, two others were well preserved [John Hartnell](https://www.awesomestories.com/images/user/daa89f60cb78f93f0fb4c8bbdc5472a4.jpg) who died aged 25 and [William Braine](http://wyrdwordsandeffigies.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/william-braine2-9.jpeg) who died aged 32. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/36 "2014-09-15T15:11:21Z")
How likely is it that they’ll be able to tell which ship it is? I know cold water can preserve artifacts quite well (this sort of thing happens all the time in the Great Lakes) but how likely is it that the ship’s name or other identifying characteristics might still be discernable? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/37 "2014-09-15T15:15:58Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > How likely is it that they’ll be able to tell which ship it is? I know cold water can preserve artifacts quite well (this sort of thing happens all the time in the Great Lakes) but how likely is it that the ship’s name or other identifying characteristics might still be discernable? I read somewhere that the two ships had quite different auxillary steam engines. So if those are preserved, they ought to be able to tell which it is. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/38 "2014-09-15T16:20:04Z")
_Erebus_ was also a bit larger than _Terror_, as well as being newer. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/39 "2014-10-01T20:08:56Z")
[She’s the _Erebus_](http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/01/franklin_expedition_ship_identified_as_hms_erebus.html), Franklin’s flagship. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980/40 "2014-10-03T15:00:58Z")
Oddly, nothing in the article explained how they identified her. (And the “comments” section is even more depressing than usual .) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/franklins-lost-expedition-found/697980.md?page=3)