Franklin's Fate by John Roobol

Author:John Roobol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-fiction;Arctic exploration;Sir John Franklin;detailed research;Inuit testimony
Publisher: The Conrad Press
Published: 2019-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

15: SUMMER 1848 - THE CAPTAINS FACE DEFEAT

The two boats at the front of the 1848 retreat are believed to have halted in Terror Bay, after only around eighty miles of sledge hauling from Crozier’s Landing and 100 miles from the ships. The other two boats were halted in Erebus Bay some thirty miles behind the others. Captains Crozier and Fitzjames would have met in Terror Bay to compare notes. Presumably, Captain Fitzjames would not have been as exhausted as his men, as he would not have been hauling sledges, and would have marched on to Terror Bay for a critical meeting. It is not too difficult to imagine the conversation between Captain Crozier and an angry (at first) Captain Fitzjames when they met. But each had a similar report to make and the seriousness of the situation would have been realised very quickly.

Captain Fitzjames must have been dismayed to find that the advance party was also halted for similar reasons. There still remained another 1150 miles to Fort Providence on the Great Slave Lake. It was the man-hauling of the boats over ice (rather than sailing them), the poor health of the crews after three years in the Arctic, and almost certainly extremely bad weather in what proved to be a poor summer that defeated them. However, at Terror Bay they had reached the edge of the target area reputed to have good hunting.

When the two captains met, they would have realized that there was now little hope of saving most of the crew, because the option to march out had failed. In fact the chances of survival for the entire expedition were now very small. They had only three options. To stay where they were, when all would soon die of starvation. To abandon the sick and with the remaining able bodied haul two boats further south – perhaps achieving another fifty miles only. Or to leave the sick in care and march back lightweight to the depot at Croziers Landing to resupply Erebus and await the 1848 thaw in July which might free the ship.

Crozier would have been very much aware of the limited food supply left on Erebus and at Depot Camp ( Terror had been abandoned and was now a mortuary ship). Dr. Cyriax made a detailed study of the stores supplied to the ships and concluded that at the time they were abandoned, there would still be enough food left to supply 129 men for two months or about 260 man months. Unfortunately, much food had been left on the Matty Islands and much of what remained was tinned food that after winter 1847-48 was probably condemned by the surgeons as probably the cause of the illness and deaths. The presence of some scurvy indicated that the lime juice was beginning to lose its antiscorbutic properties. Clearly if they returned to the ships, their continued survival would depend heavily on hunting additional food. But by reaching Terror Bay the men had reached an area

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