Owen Beattie: Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition

1849–50 Lieutenant James Saunders (HMS North Star)

1850–51 U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edwin J. De Haven, U.S. Navy Lieutenant S.R Griffin ( Advance & Rescue)

1850–51 Captain Horatio Austin, Captain Erasmus Ommanney, Lieutenant Sherard Osborn, Lieutenant Bertie Cator (HMS Resolute, HMS Assistance, HMS Intrepid, HMS Pioneer)*

1850–51 Captain William Penny, Alexander Stewart ( Lady Franklin & Sophia) *

1850–51 Rear Admiral Sir John Ross ( Felix)

1850 Captain C.C. Forsyth ( Prince Albert)

1850–55 Captain Richard Collinson (HMS Enterprise)

1850–54 Commander Robert McClure (HMS Investigator)

1851 Dr. John Rae (overland)

1851–52 Captain William Kennedy ( Prince Albert)

1852 Commander Edward Augustus Inglefield ( Isabel)

1852–54 Captain Sir Edward Belcher, Sherard Osborn, Captain Henry Kellett, Commander Francis Leopold M’Clintock (HMS Assistance, HMS Pioneer, HMS Resolute, HMS Intrepid)

1852–54 William John Samuel Pullen (HMS North Star)

1853 Captain Edward Augustus Inglefield, William Fawckner (HMS Phoenix & HMS Breadalbane)

1853–54 Dr. John Rae (overland)*

1853–55 U.S. Navy Dr. Elisha Kent Kane ( Advance)

1855 Chief Factor John Anderson (overland)

1857–59 Captain Francis Leopold M’Clintock, Lieut. William Robert Hobson ( Fox)*

1869 Charles Francis Hall (overland)*

1878–80 U.S. Lieut. Frederick Schwatka (overland)*

*Made significant discoveries of Franklin expedition relics

The Field and laboratory researches of the Franklin Forensic Project, and the Franklin Osteology Project, described in this book, were supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, the Polar Continental Shelf Project and the University of Alberta. Sincerest thanks go to these organizations and agencies.

Additional support for various phases of the project was received from the Park Nicollet Medical Foundation, the Science Advisory Board (NWT), Alberta Workers’ Health and Compensation and Taymor Canada.

Without the energy, insight, understanding, co-operation and dedication of those who participated in the field research, this book (and the research) would not have been possible. On Beechey Island: Walt Kowal, Eric Damkjar, Arne Carlson, Roger Amy, Joelee Nungaq, James Savelle, Derek Notman, Larry Anderson, Brian Spenceley, Geraldine Ruszala and Barb Schweger. And on King William Island: Arsien Tungilik, Karen Digby, Kovic Hiqiniq and Mike Aleekee. Thanks are also due to Dr. K. Kowalewska-Grochowska, University of Alberta Hospital; Sylvia Chomyc, Tuberculosis Control Unit, Provincial Laboratory of Public Health (Alberta), and the Netsilik Archaeology Project (James Savelle).

The authors would also like to thank the staff of the following institutions for their assistance with historical and archival research: the British Library, the British Archives, the University of Alberta libraries, including the Canadian Circumpolar Library, the University of Toronto libraries and the Toronto Reference Library. In addition, special thanks go to Donald Bray, Sten Nadolney, Patrick Walsh of Conville & Walsh, Matthew Swan of Adventure Canada and Rob Sanders. Margaret Atwood is profoundly thanked.

In memorium: Arne Carlson, who, with his wife Lesley Mitchell, died tragically in December 1998.

IMAGE CREDITS

Photos: All photos are by Dr. Owen Beattie, except: photo on page 144courtesy of the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, Government of Nunavut; photo on page 208(lower) by Brian Spenceley; photo on page 216“project photograph.”

Illustrations: Pictures on pages 20, 37, 39, 40, 42, 49, 59, 63, 80, 82, 89, 90, 164, 215are reproduced courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; pictures on pages 19, 89(lower) courtesy of the University of Toronto libraries; picture on page 54courtesy of the British Library; pictures on pages 84, 98courtesy of the Boreal Institute of Northern Studies, University of Alberta, Canada; pictures on pages i, 94from the collection of John Geiger; pictures on pages 77, 87courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library.

Maps and diagrams: Neil Hyslop and Andrew Barr.

REPRINT CREDITS

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Quotation from The Rifles by William T. Vollmann. Penguin Books, New York. ©1995 William T. Vollmann. Reprinted by kind permission of the author.

Quotation from “The Age of Lead” by Margaret Atwood. Wilderness Tips. McClelland & Stewart, Toronto. ©1991 O.W. Toad Ltd. Reprinted with kind permission of the author.

Quotation from Terror and Erebus by Gwendolyn MacEwen. The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen: The Early Years (Volume One), eds. Margaret Atwood and Barry Callaghan. Exile Editions, Toronto. ©1993. Reprinted with kind permission of the publisher.

Chorus from “Northwest Passage” by Stan Rogers. The album Northwest Passage. ©1981 Fogarty’s Cove Music. Reprinted with kind permission of Fogarty’s Cove Music and Ariel Rogers.

There are a great many publications relating to the preparation for, and loss of, the 1845–48 Franklin expedition, as well as the subsequent searches and contemporary research. The following bibliography is not definitive, but it does include sources that allow the reader to explore the complexities of historical and scientific research into the disaster. Each of the entries has been used by the authors as information and/or illustration sources.

Anonymous. 1883. Dangers of canned food. Medical News. xliii:270.

Amundsen, Roald. 1908. The North West Passage. Vol. II. London: Archibald Constable and Co.

Amy, R., Bahatnagar, R., Damkjar, E., and Beattie, O. 1986. The last Franklin expedition: report of a postmortem examination of a crew member. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 135:115–117.

Anderson, J.E., and Merbs, C.F. 1962. A contribution to the human osteology of the Canadian Arctic. Occasional Paper 4. Toronto: Art and Archaeology Division, Royal Ontario Museum, University of Toronto.

Back, George. 1838. Narrative of an Expedition in HMS Terror Undertaken with a View to Geographical Discovery on the Arctic Shores in the Years 1836–7. London: John Murray.

Banting, F.G. 1930. With the Arctic Patrol. Canadian Geographical Journal. Vol. 1.

Beattie, O.B. 1983. A report on newly discovered human skeletal remains from the last Sir John Franklin expedition. The Muskox. 33:68–77.

Beattie, O.B., and Savelle, J.M. 1983. Discovery of human remains from Sir John Franklin’s last expedition. Historical Archaeology. 17:100–105.

Beattie, O.B., Damkjar, E., Kowal, W, Amy, R. 1985. Anatomy of an arctic autopsy. Medical Post. 20(23):1–2.

Belcher, E. 1855. The Last of the Arctic Voyages. London: Lovell Reeve.

Bernier, Joseph E. 1909. Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Arctic Islands and Hudson Strait, on Board the D.G.S. ‘Arctic.’ Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau.

Burwash, L.T. 1930. The Franklin Search. Canadian Geographical Journal. Vol. 1, No. 7.

Busch, Jane. 1981. An introduction to the tin can. Historical Archaeology. 15:95–104.

Cooke, Alan, and Holland, Clive. 1978. The Exploration of Northern Canada. Toronto: Arctic History Press.