I've been fascinated with exploration lately, probably because I don't have a car right now and my world is whatever exists in the square mile around my apartment that I can walk to and the extent of the BART lines. Consequently, the idea that at one point in relatively recent history, there were vast swaths of the globe where no human had ever set foot nor had any knowledge of whatsoever is pretty interesting, not to mention frightening. Could you imagine what a member of the Lewis & Clark expedition must have felt as they crossed the plains and saw the vague outline of the Rocky Mountains in the distance for the first time? Or how excited Percy Fawcett must have been to venture further into the Amazon jungle than any white man ever in search of the fabled city of El Dorado? Or what would've been running through the mind of one of the Mercury astronauts looking down from their spacecraft and seeing the entirety of the Earth below them? Or the scores of men who set sail from Europe hoping to find the fabled Northwest Passage which would open up trade and travel to the rest of the world only to see their ships become mired in swaths of never-ending ice seas unlike anything they'd ever seen before. The courage it must take to leave everything in your life behind just to scratch that itch that is the curiosity to venture into the unknown is, frankly, a trait that I don't think I will ever have. However, it is exciting to read about the people who actually did the work and took the risk and thanks to them, brought back not only knowledge for the rest of us but tales of adventure and excitement and intrigue.
An immensely interesting piece of world history is arctic exploration, which was a vital part of many nations' economic and public interests, most notably England and in later years, the United States and Canada and other European powers. The goal was to find a shipping lane through the icy Arctic Sea above North America to shorten the time it would take to get past the North and South American continents, in lieu of going all the way to the bottom of South America.* There had been expeditions to the polar regions going back hundreds of years, starting with native peoples and their primitive equipment leading up to the specifically retrofitted steam and coal powered warships of the European powers in the early to mid 1800's that were capable of carrying hundreds of men and enough supplies to spend many seasons, even years on the ship if necessary**. Expeditions were planned and timed so that they could reach a certain destination and be able to return or retreat if necessary before the seas froze over for the winter. There are many expeditions that never saw the open seas again, as they were caught in the ice hundreds of miles away from the nearest inuit civilizations or outposts or open sea routes and were forced to abandon ship after constricting and moving sea drifts would slowly crush ships stuck in the ice. Additionally, being stranded on hundreds of miles of sea ice means there is almost no plants or wildlife to hunt which means many crews starved to death on the ice or resorted to cannibalism. The promise, however slim the chances were, of open water in the Arctic Ocean and the glory of returning as a hero was enough to stick with the mission.
Perhaps the most infamous of the Arctic exploratory missions was the Franklin Expedition. Sir John Franklin, a veteran of the Royal Navy and commander of various vessels in a series of military battles, was also educated in geography and cartography and eventually became one of the most well-known explorers in the world. After a few similar but not as extensive journeys, he eventually became commander of what, at the time, would be the final and most exhaustive search for the Northwest Passage, comprising two ships and 130 men departing England in 1845. Terror^ and Erebus were former Navy bomb vessels which were converted for polar expeditions to withstand the harsh conditions. The ships performed admirably but were beset by the encroaching ice and eventually trapped, never to be freed again. Their location was mostly unknown, as maps of the area were primitive and presumptive at best, and search parties both of men from the expedition venturing outward for land as well as future search & rescue missions were unable to come up with any suitable options for the stranded crew. Eventually, after their stores of food were found to be tainted and supplies & morale were running low and many men, including Franklin, had succumbed to death, the remaining crew members eventually abandoned ship and took off in search of the mainland. It is largely believed that most members of the party were eventually killed on this part of the journey, as nobody ever heard from any of them again and the few sparse native people in the region couldn't definitively make any claims of Franklin men reaching their settlements. Within a couple years when it became clear that the mission wouldn't return, a cottage industry sprang up of men and ships venturing to the Arctic to try to be the first to, if not return with Franklin and his men, at least return with word of what happened there. Various remnants of the ships, temporary camps, makeshift gravesites, supplies and man-made landmarks were found by future expeditions which gave clues as to the fate of the Franklin expedition, although many of those themselves fell prey to the same harsh conditions and did not return either. One such vessel, the HMS Resolute, was abandoned during an expedition in 1854 when it was stuck in the ice but was recovered two years later and brought back to England where it was eventually dismantled. Queen Victoria used some of the wood from the ship to make a desk which was presented to US president Rutherford B. Hayes to be placed in the White House, where it still sits to this day. But it is the Terror and the Erebus which remain the most infamous of the era. It wasn't until almost 15 years later that anyone was able to give proof that Franklin and his expedition had perished. His wife, Lady Franklin, whose wealth and notoriety provided many options for potential rescue missions, as well as various Geographical societies and governments not to mention the general public were keen to know the fate of Franklin's expedition. As the years went by and more evidence and correspondence were uncovered, the spoiled tins of food which were bought for the journey from a company that was the lowest bidder and in a rush to provide the provisions which were hastily prepared and incorrectly soldered and sealed, were generally thought to be the driving cause of the tragedy, as many crew members contracted lead poisoning and botulism and the remaining tins, once discovered, were declared inedible and starvation became an instant threat. This is thought to be the driving force behind the decision to leave the ship and venture out onto the open ice on sledges loaded with the remaining food and equipment.
One of the most interesting versions of this story, which has shown up over the years in various places, including many works of adventure fiction, is that which Dan Simmons tells in his novel The Terror. Simmons, who writes thrillers and sci-fi, infused his telling of the Franklin expedition with some horror elements, most notably the appearance of something that stalks the ice in the night around the ships and is capable of tearing a man in half in the blink of an eye. The story follows Captain Crozier of the Terror as he tries to maintain order after the death of Franklin and the appearance of what some of his men have dubbed, appropriately, the Terror. The novel, much to my excitement and anticipation, has been optioned into a miniseries at the AMC network to air in 2017, however, in a bit of comically bad timing, if you ask the producers, the remains of Terror were found this week. The wreckage of Erebus was found in 2012, 31 miles from where Terror was found. The reported site of the original abandonment of Terror was 57 miles to the north, leading some historians to wonder if some of the crew returned to the ship and were able to make repairs and raise anchor and sail a short distance before again abandoning it, although the variation is most likely due to vague and inconsistent conjecture of what could happen to a ship in such a predicament and lack of any available concrete information. While we may never know what happened to most of the men on the expedition whose bodies were never recovered, it is exciting to finally know the final resting place of the ships which brought the men there and served as their home for months on end. A route through the fabled Northwest Passage was eventually found and completed by a Norwegian crew in 1906 and many others since then. Many ships today, of course, are capable of trekking through the icy seas of the Arctic although the passage itself, via many potential routes is still somewhat of an enigma, although melting sea ice due to climate change is quickly making the passage something that is readily accessible. Canada, who has made the site of the remains of the ships a National Historic Site, is readying itself for the eventual traffic through its northern seas. The site of the discovery this week is named, yet again, appropriately, Terror Bay.
*This was, of course, almost a hundred years before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 which cut that trip by more than half. I suggest reading The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough if you'd like to learn more about the Panama Canal. Or, you know, Wikipedia or whatever.
**Just to show the extent of preparation that the Admiralty put into the Franklin Expedition, which was comprised of Her Majesty's Ships Terror and Erebus, some of the provisions were 36,487 pounds of biscuits, or hardtack as it was known, almost one hundred thousand pounds of salted pork, beef and preserved meats which could last for years packed in barrels, 9,400 pounds of chocolate, 136,656 pounds of flour, and even 1,000 pounds of mustard, among other necessities.
^The Terror measured 102 feet long and displaced 325 tons while holding 67 crew members. Just for comparison, the largest cruise ship in the world, and the largest ever built, is the Harmony Of The Seas and is 1,188 feet long and 226,963 gross tonnage and can carry almost 9,000 people. A football field is 300 feet long.
An immensely interesting piece of world history is arctic exploration, which was a vital part of many nations' economic and public interests, most notably England and in later years, the United States and Canada and other European powers. The goal was to find a shipping lane through the icy Arctic Sea above North America to shorten the time it would take to get past the North and South American continents, in lieu of going all the way to the bottom of South America.* There had been expeditions to the polar regions going back hundreds of years, starting with native peoples and their primitive equipment leading up to the specifically retrofitted steam and coal powered warships of the European powers in the early to mid 1800's that were capable of carrying hundreds of men and enough supplies to spend many seasons, even years on the ship if necessary**. Expeditions were planned and timed so that they could reach a certain destination and be able to return or retreat if necessary before the seas froze over for the winter. There are many expeditions that never saw the open seas again, as they were caught in the ice hundreds of miles away from the nearest inuit civilizations or outposts or open sea routes and were forced to abandon ship after constricting and moving sea drifts would slowly crush ships stuck in the ice. Additionally, being stranded on hundreds of miles of sea ice means there is almost no plants or wildlife to hunt which means many crews starved to death on the ice or resorted to cannibalism. The promise, however slim the chances were, of open water in the Arctic Ocean and the glory of returning as a hero was enough to stick with the mission.
*This was, of course, almost a hundred years before the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 which cut that trip by more than half. I suggest reading The Path Between The Seas by David McCullough if you'd like to learn more about the Panama Canal. Or, you know, Wikipedia or whatever.
**Just to show the extent of preparation that the Admiralty put into the Franklin Expedition, which was comprised of Her Majesty's Ships Terror and Erebus, some of the provisions were 36,487 pounds of biscuits, or hardtack as it was known, almost one hundred thousand pounds of salted pork, beef and preserved meats which could last for years packed in barrels, 9,400 pounds of chocolate, 136,656 pounds of flour, and even 1,000 pounds of mustard, among other necessities.
^The Terror measured 102 feet long and displaced 325 tons while holding 67 crew members. Just for comparison, the largest cruise ship in the world, and the largest ever built, is the Harmony Of The Seas and is 1,188 feet long and 226,963 gross tonnage and can carry almost 9,000 people. A football field is 300 feet long.
