Page 41 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

Terror

on the Ice

How an obsession with finding the fabled
Northwest Passage through the Arctic doomed

John Franklin and his 128 men

Written by Martyn Conterio

“ nspirited by this wind of promise, my only nine in the 1700s and 21 in the 1600s. The
Russians, Norwegians and Swedes all sought to find
daydreams become more fervent and
vivid. I try in vain to be persuaded that
obsessed with doing so than the British.
the pole is the seat of frost and desolation; a way through the ice, but arguably none were more
I it ever presents itself to my imagination The Northwest Passage held such an allure
as the region of beauty and delight.” These are the because it would dramatically shorten the time it
words of Robert Walton, a fictional explorer in Mary would take to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, but they could be the The only existing options — going around the Cape
remembrances of a real-life navigator as so many of Good Hope in South Africa or Cape Horn in
have obsessed over finding a route through the Chile — could take several weeks and meant passing
Arctic Ocean. Unfortunately, this did not end well through treacherous waters. Finding a trade route
for John Franklin, who learnt the hard way that the through the Arctic waters would give sailors a huge
pole truly is a seat of frost and desolation in 1845. commercial advantage.
Over the years, this quest to find the fabled The driving force behind British Arctic
Northwest Passage — as the route through the Arctic exploration was John Barrow, who was second
is known — frustrated famed explorers including secretary to the Admiralty from 1808 to 1845. The
Francis Drake, Francisco de Ulloa, Martin Frobisher, son of a Cumbrian tanner, Barrow had worked
Henry Hudson and James Cook. But in the 19th his way into the senior naval position — earning
century, with better scientific and geographic himself a baronet along the way — by proving
knowledge, the search was taken up in earnest with himself a skilled administrator during the
over 65 expeditions to the region, compared with Napoleonic Wars. After France was defeated, he was

June 1845 Late July 1845 January 1846
From Stromness, Orkney, At Disko Bay, the Barretto The expedition lands at 22 April 1848 26 April 1848
the two vessels head out Junior’s crew slaughter ten Beechey Island for the The ships are The remaining crew plan to
across the North Atlantic to oxen for their meat. Letters winter, where three crew 12 September 1846 abandoned, having set off for the mouth of the
Disko Bay, Greenland. They are written by officers die. William Braine, John Erebus and Terror leave Beechey been stuck since Back River, which would
are accompanied by Barretto and sent back with the Torrington and John Island and set off across Peel September 1846. The lead to a Hudson’s Bay
Junior, a transport ship ship. Five crew, unfit for Hartnell are buried in Sound and down the west coast ice fails to melt to Company outpost over 1,500
carrying provisions for the the journey, return to the neatly made graves that of King William Island. They are free the vessels the kilometres away. They have
teams on board. United Kingdom as well. are discovered in 1850. trapped in ice for two winters. previous summer. no chance.
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