Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
by Owen Beattie, John Geiger
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Book Summary Information
Author: John Geiger, Owen BeattieIntroduction: Margaret Atwood
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-23
ISBN: 1553650603
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Greystone Books
Book Reviews of Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition
Book Review: "They could not have foretold such an odyssey"
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I heard about the Franklin expedition on Dr. Bob Brier's television documentary on mummies, I knew I had to learn more. Of course, the main cause of my fascination was the perfectly preserved bodies of the three sailors buried in 1846 on Beechy Island in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition set off in 1845 thoroughly equipped to find the elusive Northwest Passage. None of the 129 crewmen as well as Captain John Franklin survived. Years later expeditions were sent out to find out what happened to Franklin and his men. One search team in the 1850s led by M`Clintock, who was funded by Franklin's widow, discovered the only written record of the Franklin Expedition which gave a clue as to their progress and fate and a small boat with an odd array of articles and skeletons on King William Island. Headstones of three crewmen who died early in the expedition were also found on Beechy Island. The only conclusion that was made was that the men died of scurvy and starvation. In 1981, a team led by physical anthropologist Owen Beattie continued the investigation into the lost Franklin Expedition.
The reason this event was such a famous mystery was because Franklin's crew was so well prepared. Their two ships (HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus) were lavishly outfitted with survival equipment and supplies. Among their stock was a huge supply of canned foods (canning of foods being a recent practice at the time). Franklin once bragged that his provisions could stretch for 7 years (p. 18). In fact, empty tins littered the areas Franklin's crew camped. These artifacts proved clues to Beattie as to the fate of the Franklin expedition. Tests done on the lead level in bones found near Booth Point gave evidence that Franklin's men were poisoning themselves, weakening their bodies physically and impairing their decision-making. Beattie's team would exhume the bodies of the early Franklin deaths on Beechy Island to support this theory.
In addition to the exhumation and autopsies of the perfectly preserved bodies which is, of course, fascinating by itself, Beattie gives grisly details as to the evidence of cannibalism among the crew (p. 61), information on the sloppy soldering of the tin food cans (p. 113), and the rushed work of the Stephan Goldner company to fill the order for the canned foods (p. 159). A recreation of 20-year-old Chief Stoker John Torrington is described which even uses evidence found in his grave to show it was snowing lightly the day of his burial (pp. 123-7). It is unbelievable what scientists can find! One item I had not read before was that the odd choice of scriptures engraved on the headstones caused the team to first suspect foul play as the cause of the deaths (p. 93). The graves are a time capsule, and the Beattie team did an excellent job of learning from them yet also honoring them. The book includes amazing color photos of the bodies.
I have the 1987 out-of-print 180-page edition. This new edition appears to have additional information on other polar explorations giving all the more reason to check this book out. My copy ends with a comparison with the Challenger tragedy which is understandable as the 1986 disaster was still very fresh when this book was written. The big flaw with this comparison is that the powers-that-be in charge of launching Challenger knew of the dangers beforehand (even the specific warning about the fragility of the O-rings in frigid temperatures) and chose to ignore them. The Franklin Expedition really believed they were properly equipped with no idea of the fatal cargo they carried. There is a definite innocence about this tragedy on the part of all involved. They truly believed they would succeed. I also recommend the book Buried in Ice by the same authors. It is a juvenile book but has additional information not found in Frozen in Time, including photos of some of the articles used by the Franklin Expedition including a medicine chest and a complete food tin.
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