Franklin Expedition Erebus Shipwreck Found
170 years after the crew of the doomed Franklin Expedition succumbed to madness and cannibalism, the wreck of the HMS Erebus has been found.
After 170 years, Canadian explorers have found one of the two missing ships from the Franklin Expedition. The ships departed in 1845 with 129 men in search of the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic.
Related: Artifacts from the Doomed Franklin Expedition Unveiled
According to a note found in a mound of stones, the ships became stranded in ice. In 1848, the remaining crew abandoned the ships. Over the years skeletal remains and mummies preserved in permafrost have been found, with forensic evidence supporting Inuit tales that the men had resorted to cannibalism for survival. They had also most likely been driven to madness by lead poisoning from the containers used to store food on the ships.
Up until now, however, the missing ships, HMS Erebus and Terror, had not been seen since they vanished in 1846. The Erebus wreck was found near King William Island, where two long-dead men were found in a lifeboat in 1859.
The latest search for the missing ships was announced in July.
via Washington Post
Related
