Episode 45: Unraveling the Mystery of the Franklin Lost Expedition

Ever wondered what could have led to the disappearance of the Franklin Lost Expedition in 1845? Pull up a chair and join us, your hosts Smarticast and Phoenix, as we unravel this icy mystery and the theories that might answer this question. We delve into an eerie tale that saw Sir John Franklin and his crew vanish without a trace while attempting to discover the Northwest Passage. Lady Jane Franklin, Sir John's second wife, spearheaded a search that marked history's largest naval hunt. As we dissect theories from lead poisoning to the harsh Arctic elements, we'll also unmask unsettling possibilities of desperate cannibalism. Intriguing stories from Inuit groups initially discredited, now take center stage, hinting at the grim fate of Franklin's crew.

Brace yourselves as we move into the next chapter and discover the Rex from the Franklin expedition. The discovery not only sheds light on the crew's tech, lifestyle, and culture, but also the larger geopolitics and economy that shaped the expedition. It’s a captivating journey into the past that offers fresh perspectives on global exploration and colonization. Remember to subscribe and share your thoughts in a review. With Smarticast Tales History, there's always more to uncover.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Smarticast .

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Tales.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
History.
Alright, enough with the Echoand Fanfare.
You're here for history, right,and not that boring crap you
learned in high school.
This stuff's actuallyinteresting, like things you've
never heard about the Civil War,cleopatra, automobiles,
monopoly, the Black Plague andmore Fascinating stories,
interesting topics and somedownright weird facts from the

(00:27):
past.
It's a new twist on somestories you may know and an
interesting look at some thingsyou may have never heard.
So grab a beer, kick back andenjoy.
Here's your host, smarticast.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of
Smarticast Tales History.
I am your host, smarticast,accompanied by my co-host,
phoenix.
Hello, today we will beexploring one of the most
fascinating and tragic storiesin the history of Arctic
exploration the Franklin LostExpedition.
In this episode we will take adeep dive into the expedition,
its purpose, the circumstancessurrounding its disappearance
and the subsequent search anddiscovery of the Lost Crew.

(01:03):
But first we will not be doinga food item for this week's
episode.
We feel that you willunderstand why as we go into the
story.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well.
The Franklin Expedition was an1845 British voyage of
exploration led by Sir JohnFranklin, accompanied by James
Fitzjames and Francis Crozier.
The aim of discovering theNorthwest Passage, a sea route
through the Arctic connectingthe Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
They hoped the expedition wasauthorized by the British

(01:32):
Admiralty and the two ships, hmsErebus and HMS Terror, were
outfitted with the latesttechnology of the time,
including steam engines, ironplating, double wood hulls and
advanced heating systems.
The crew of the expeditionconsisted of 129 men, most of
which were English, some Irish,welsh and Scottish.

(01:52):
Only two men were not from theBritish Isles Charles Johnson
from Halifax, nova Scotia,canada, and Henry Lloyd from
Christensen, norway.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
In addition to all the new shiny toys that these
guys had to go exploring with,there was also a need for
preserving and carrying food.
Each ship was loaded with threeyears worth of food Ten soup,
vegetables, salt, cured meat,pomegranate and several live
cattle.
Unfortunately, the contract forthe ten food was awarded to a
man by the name of StephenGoldner only seven weeks before

(02:25):
the expedition set sail.
Goldner was frantic to getenough metal for the order of
8,010s.
This would come into play laterwith great detriment.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
On May 19th 1845, the HMS Arabus and HMS Terror left
Greenheath, England.
They made a stop in Stromnes,scotland, before heading towards
Greenland to resupply.
They were last seen by awailing ship on July 26th 1845,
and Baffin Bay.
After that they disappearedwithout a trace and no one heard
anything again.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
After two years without even a hint of a word
from their Franklin expedition,or even a note from eyewitness
accounts.
It was Sir John Franklin'ssecond wife, Lady Jane Franklin,
that got the ball rolling for asearch.
She persuaded the BritishAdmiralty and Government to
launch what would become thelargest naval search in history.
There were two expeditionslaunched, one by land and one by
sea, in addition to a reward of20,000 pounds by the Admiralty

(03:21):
To any party or parties of anycountry who shall render
assistance to the crews of theDiscovery ships under the
command of Sir John Franklin.
For those that are curious,that reward would now be
$2,136,300 as of 2023.
That is a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Many tried to help, but to no avail.
They heard stories from Inuitgroups in Canada, but what they
heard was considered so heinousthat the stories were quickly
rejected.
We'll get to that in a bit.
By 1850, many other shipsjoined the hunt.
One such searching ship was theHMS Resolute.
It had a bit of a mishap whereit got stuck and was abandoned

(04:02):
in packed ice.
Sometime later it was foundintact by an American whaling
ship and returned to the UnitedKingdom.
Tembers from this ship weremanufactured into three desks,
one of which was a gift fromQueen Victoria to President
Rutherford B Hayes, and forthose of you that are big
national treasure fans, I'm sureyour ears are perking up.
You're right, that desk is thefamous Resolute desk that most

(04:26):
presidents since have chosen tosit behind in the Oval Office.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
That is very cool.
It is.
There was only one first-handaccount of what progressed in
the first year of the expedition.
It was found in a two-partvictory point in Oakton.
After three men died during thesummer on Vici Island, the two
ships went down Kiehl Sound toKing William Island, where the
victory point note says that theships became stuck in ice

(04:51):
Unable to be removed.
The HMS Arabus and HMS Terrorwere deemed unsuitable.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
According to the second part of the victory point
note, which was penned byCrozier and Fitz James, the crew
wintered off King WilliamIsland from 1846 to 47 and 1847
to 48.
During June 1848, Sir Franklindied while eight other officers
and 15 men had died prior.
These notes were the latecommunications from the original

(05:20):
expedition.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Of course, the disappearance of the Franklin
expedition was a mystery formany years, decades, even after
Several theories andspeculations were put forward to
explain what might havehappened to the crew.
One of the theories piggybackedoff of the victory point note
they must have tried to surviveas long as possible along the
scattered islands of the Arcticbefore perishing Bodies found
during the search furthersuggested that this was a

(05:44):
probability.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Remember the hurried production of the canned food.
Another theory was that thecrew had succumbed to lead
poisoning caused by the leadsolder used to seal their food
tins.
This theory was supported bythe discovery of high levels of
lead in the remains of some ofthe crew members.
However, this theory has beendisputed, as it is difficult to
determine whether the leadlevels found were a result of

(06:06):
the solder or other sources.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
And remember when Phoenix mentioned the disturbing
stories from the Inuits thatthe search parties discarded.
Well, a more recent theory, onefinally taken seriously as of
the 2010s, was thanks to whatresearchers discovered when
looking at seemingly discardedbones from various sites.
When questioned back in themid-1800s, the Inuit had spoken
of a group of white men whopassed through.

(06:30):
They spoke of the greatsuffering these men faced and
how they had resorted tocannibalism.
The Brits found thisoutrageously unpalatable and
refuted it at the time, whileresearchers of the 21st century
have concluded that it wasactually fact.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Funny enough, upon finding that the Inuit stories
about cannibalism was true,researchers in 2014 decided that
maybe they should gather moreand investigate further these
oral stories.
Sure enough, thanks to modernunderwater equipment used by
scientists and clues from theInuit living on King William
Island and the surroundingislands, they found the HMS
Arabus underwater in the KingMaud Gulf.

(07:04):
The HMS Terror was found inTerror Bay later, both of which
touched King William Island.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
How ironic the HMS Terror was found in Terror Bay.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Right, I think.
Actually I didn't bother tolook it up, but I think it might
be named after the Terror, likethe HMS Terror.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
So they never even made it out of the Bay.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Mm-mm.
They got there and it iced overand they could never get it out
, and so, instead of just youknow making it a home and living
there, they decided they weregoing to live off of it.
Yeah, it's in the freaking iceand tundra.
Really I this.
It's a very interesting story,but I'm still sitting here

(07:45):
thinking a woman would haveknown better.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Sometimes.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Well, you're probably not wrong.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Oh my gosh, Sorry, oh man.
Yeah, Y'all had your mama there.
She had told you no.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Sometimes there are things that happen in history
that just make you think how arewe still here as a species
Right?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
It's because their mother was going.
I told you not to do that.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:19):
Someone's wife said that's stupid, Put it down.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, both ships were remarkably intact and preserved
, as were many artifacts,considering that they had been
submerged for almost 170 years.
Exhumations during the 1980spulled most of the weight as to
what happened to the crew Acrossthe board.
Malnutrition was the biggestissue, as was an issue with the
zinc deficiency.

(08:42):
This wasn't too unusualconsidering that they had little
to no meat to eat.
Lead poisoning was an issue forall of them, but the test used
suggested that it wasn't anyhigher than most people during
that time period.
Trabriculosis was the killer ofthe men that died on beachy
island.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Sadly, that's the end of a very unhappy story of the
lost Franklin expedition.
It has become a cautionary taleof the dangers the Arctic
exploration and the importanceof proper planning, preparation
and risk management rather thanexploration.
The expedition also underscoresthe importance of respect for
indigenous cultures and value ofcollaboration and communication

(09:21):
with local communities.
The Inuit people of the regionhad a wealth of knowledge about
the Arctic environment and couldhave provided valuable insights
and assistance to theexpedition.
Unfortunately, due to culturalmisunderstandings and mistrust,
the expedition failed toestablish a productive
relationship with the Inuit andthis, we feel, contributed
greatly to their ultimate demise.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
The discovery of the Rex of the Franklin expedition
also provided an opportunity forscientific research and
historical investigation.
The Rex and the artifactsrecovered from them have
provided valuable insights intothe technology, cultural,
general health and daily life ofthe crew.
They have also shed new lighton the geopolitical and economic
context of the expedition andthe role of the arctic

(10:03):
exploration in the largercontext of global exploration
and colonization.
We hope that you have enjoyedlearning about this fascinating
aspect of history.
Thank you for joining us forthis episode of Smarticus Tells
History.
If you have enjoyed thisepisode, please subscribe and
leave us a review.
We will be back with morestories from the past.
Until then, keep exploring.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Smarticus Tells History.