The Franklin expedition 1847 and recent discoveries

So, hubby and I are watching "The Terror" on AMC, which is a fictional account of the Franklin expedition of 1847 to try to find the Northwest Passage.   It ended up with the deaths of 129 men and the loss of the two expedition ships, the Erebus and the Terror.

Naturally, I HAD to read the book by Dan Simmons.   Here's the link to it on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Terror-Dan-Simmons/dp/0316486094/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524234299&sr=8-1&keywords=the+terror+dan+simmons

But, OF COURSE, being a history major, I was intrigued and wanted to know the true details, so I also read Ice Ghosts by Paul Watson.  It seemed to be the most current book on the subject and he is a Pulitzer Prize winning author.   Link:     https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Ghosts-Epic-Franklin-Expedition/dp/0393249387/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524234370&sr=1-2&keywords=Ice+Ships

I read that book in 2 days.  I literally couldn't put it down.

Anyway, both the Erebus and Terror remained hidden for... 168 years!!!!!   Erebus was found in 2014 and The Terror in 2016.   There actually IS a Terror Bay, up by one of the islands, but it wasn't named after the ship.  It was actually named BEFORE the ship was discovered!   Sometimes history is more interesting that fiction!

And, the Inuit, through their oral history, had known about the 2 ships.  They found human remains of some of the crew and they actually saw others (and Commander Franklin's Newfoundland dog) ON the ship several times. 

It is not known how the two ships ended up 80 miles apart.  That is another mystery to be solved, along with the final resting place of Commander Franklin, Captain Crozier, and other officers.

If you want a good read, I would recommend the Watson book.  If was an Inuit/Irish researcher, Louis  Kamookak, who painstakingly interviewed surviving Inuit elders, plotted their stories, and eventually shared his information with the scientists and whose knowledge led to the discovery of the Terror.   He just died last month, March 22, 2018.   His own grandmother had told him the stories about her father going out to find driftwood and instead finding relics from 19th century British sailors...musketballs and silverware...That got him hooked and he devoted his life to helping solve at least part of the mystery of the Erebus and the Terror.   The elders told him that their ancestors spoke of masts rising out of the sea, of white men dragging boats across the ice, and of one ship sinking quickly, while the other lasted for 2 more years after being abandoned.   Amazing, eh?   ORAL HISTORY!   However, most researchers and searchers IGNORED the Inuit stories.   Louis Kamookak did not.  He tried to match place names with locations that he knew himself, since he lived on King William Island, which was near where the 2 ships were eventually found.   He also knew that the Inuit had different concepts of direction:   north was actually northwest, and south was actually southeast, since those are the directions the winds blow.  Additionally, the winters around 1850 were BRUTAL, almost like a mini-Ice Age, reportedly.  No wonder the crews didn't survive.   Their British naval clothing, consisting of wool and leather boots, were no match for the Inuit clothing of seal and animal furs, which DO protect them from the brutal winds and cold.   Apparently people didn't ask the Inuit about what they knew about this expedition until...SIT DOWN...2006!!!!   Amazing, the arrogance of some people!

If you are interested, I would DEFINITELY recommend you read Watson's book.

Here's another link with good information:   (from The Economist):     https://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21740384-inuit-oral-historian-and-finder-sir-john-franklins-lost-ships-was-58-louie-kamookak-died

I'm going to keep track of what other discoveries come to light.  The bells from the two ships have been recovered, along with dinnerware, silverware, and other items.  The location of Commander Frankln's body has yet to be found...The Inuit oral history DID report some kind of ceremony with shots fired.   Could this have been the burial of Franklin?   That remains to be discovered...and so the mystery continues...