Lost Captain, Lost Crew

In 1845, 129 men set off with their leader John Franklin to explore uncharted Arctic territory. The trip was composed of two large vessels named, Erebus, and Crozier. While the vessels and crew were supposed to return in a relatively short time, they vanished all together. Having set sail on May 19th that same year, the last recorded sighting of either boat(s) or crew came from Baffin Bay. The expedition reportedly paused in their travels to wait out bad weather. However, when they set sail once more, it seemed that bad weather was the least of their worries.

When Franklin’s expedition seemingly vanished, a massive search party covering land and sea stretched far across frigid terrain. Yet, no matter how hard, long, and far the rescuers searched no evidence appeared. Franklin and his crew had simply disappeared. There was no other explanation. Still, many kept searching in an “endless crusade,” (National Geographic) until four years later something new emerged. A man named John Rea stumbled upon Inuit tribes during his observations of the surrounding tundra. It was there he learned that many of the Inuit had similar stories regarding 35-40 white men passing through years ago. They described to John the emaciated appearance of the travelers and explained that nearly all the men died from starvation. If they didn’t? Well, they had resorted to cannibalism, but even that only got them so far.

With this break in the case, efforts to finally solve the mystery of Franklin’s Lost Expedition renewed. As a result, three carefully constructed graves were discovered. Each held a buried sailor. The three men underwent autopsies and it was discovered that despite illness such as tuberculosis, all three had incredibly high lead levels. If each sailor had lead poisoning as bad as the three who’d been found, it was no wonder the expedition fell apart.

Yet, it was hard to understand how John Franklin let such a disaster occur. It wasn’t every day one lost two ships. Not to mention he had been on three other expeditions, one of which earned him the tittle “The man who ate his boots,” (National Geographic). Why? Because he had chewed and eaten his shoe leather for days to make it out of the Arctic alive. Frankly, John was used to surviving and making tough calls. So why had this fourth expedition been different from the rest? Though that question is nearly impossible to answer, it’s widely believed that disease, lead poisoning, lack of rationing, and all around unpreparedness had lead to the demise of 129 sailors.

However, there was speculation in England regarding the Inuit tales. It was simply too coincidental that an Arctic tribe happened to see a long lost crew wandering the wilderness. Not to mention, English society couldn’t stomach the idea of their fellow country-men resorting to cannibalism. They were too sophisticated to stoop to such levels. But it soon became clear that the Inuit were far from lying. They produced notes from the wandering sailors, cutlery, and British currency. One Inuit in particular lead the charge in solving these discrepancies. Inuit Louie Kamooka spent most of his life interviewing and talking to many of the tribe’s ancestors managing to recreate a vivid picture of the wandering crew. When this timeline matched up with that of archeologists, little doubt remained. The Inuit had seen the lost crew of Franklin’s expedition. And, if there was still any doubt, a horrifying detail soon surfaced that would erase it all.

When the ships were finally found in 2014 trapped in thick sheets of ice Louie recalled one particular tale regarding the skeletal vessels. Members of his tribe had once wandered through the metal husks and stumbled upon a large body sitting in the dark cabin of John Franklin. The structure was in-tact, unblemished, and the man occupying it was dead. Horrifyingly, he was smiling. A smile known as the Rictus smile, a result of decaying gumlines and lips. Whether or not that was truly John Franklin is unknown, but with the details of the ship and Inuit accounts, it’s not impossible.

But if that wasn’t interesting enough, the case continues to unfold over time. While little can be said about what transpired on the ships themselves, or what led them to be stranded in ice, science forges new twists in the mystery. With a total of 20 found bodies (out of a potential 129) four were identified as female. To some, such a statistic may seem unimportant, but it was a “finding that went against all previous reports suggesting an all male ship,” (Harry Pettit). And while it wasn’t uncommon for women to disguise themselves as men and join sailors on their adventures, four in one place wasn’t common, and it begged the question ‘were there more?’ And if so, did this have an effect on the crew? Did the discovery of so many female members lead to events that transpired in a deadly secret? It’s likely we’ll never know. Which leaves us with far too many questions. What caused the devolution of Franklin’s Expedition? What happened to the other 109 bodies? Were there any survivors? How did two ships become embedded in ice in the middle of no where? And was it really John Franklin’s smiling corpse? Or is the captain of the lost crew still missing too?