I think I have mentioned before that I am somewhat obsessed with the doomed Franklin Expedition and have been ever since photos of the frozen corpse of one of the sailors from that expedition were published in the mid-1980s.
Last time I was in the Wax Museum I took a photo of John Torrington (the aforementioned sailor) and it is one of my most-viewed photos thanks to Google and Yahoo searches:
At least I know I am not the only curious one out there. Late last summer the Canadian Government, through Parks Canada, launched a search for the sunken ships (as part of our claim to the Arctic lands). There's also a piece on PBS's Nova this week discussing the provisions carried for the men on the two ships and how those provisions doomed the expedition.
If you want to read more, there are good articles (student essays, really) on the Victorian Web and Mysteries of Canada websites or you could try to track down a copy of Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
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2 comments:
I have a bit of an interest in this story too, having been captivated by an article on it in National Geographic that I read many, many moons ago. I remember seeing pictures of the frozen corpses and being morbidly fascinated.
This is the expedition where they all went mad from lead poisoning from the soldering in tinned food and set off across the ice with silly things like sewing machines, right?
I do love a snappy title; well done, you clever thing, you. ;)
Yes, that's doomed by the lowest bidder for tinned goods expedition.
I believe the National Geographic of which you speak was the same one that got me interested -- circa 1984 I would guess (I was in Jr. High).
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