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Published: August 16th 2016
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Beechey Island
Flying in with the Twin Otter. Beechey Island is the site of several significant events in the history of Canada's Arctic exploration. In 1845, the British explorer Sir John Franklin commanded another search for the fabled Northwest Passage with his two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. Franklin and his crew were never to be seen again - even today, the true fate of the expedition and the 129 men remains somewhat mysterious.
Franklin chose Beechey Island as a wintering site due to the sheltered bays that would help prevent the ships from being crushed by the winter sea-ice. The high sea-cliffs made the island very distinct in the surrounding shores and would be easily recognized by other ships.
A few years after the disappearance of Franklin's ships, several search parties were sent to look for clues - they found a cairn on Beechey island as well as several graves. As the search parties searched the nearby channels and islands that make up the labyrinthine Canadian Arctic, it became very clear that Franklin's lost men had experienced the worst of human suffering...
The men suffered from scurvy, tuberculosis, pneumonia and starvation. Exposure to the hostile environment led to hypothermia, poor
The Isthmus
The narrow gravel bar that connects Beechey island to Devon Island, the world's largest uninhabited island. food canning techniques caused lead poisoning, and evidence found on King William Island suggested that many men were cannibalized... We simply cannot imagine what these men went through...
Beechey Island is an eerie place in the most desolate and bleakest part of Canada. The frozen sea entombs the island for 10 months of the year, total darkness for more than a hundred days in mid winter, and the winter lows drop into the minus forties for months on end. This was not a pleasant place to perish...
We arrived on what was arguably the nicest day of the year. 12 degrees Celsius and sunny - rare in these parts.
On a vast gravel coastal plain lies the grave site. I sat by the graves of crew members, John Torrington 20 yrs, John Hartnell 25 yrs, and William Braine 32 yrs... A fourth grave is of Thomas Morgan from one of the rescue parties...
The silence and emptiness was overwhelming...
Etched on the headstones of two of the crew were extracts from the bible...
"Thus saith the lord of hosts, consider your ways" Haggai...On the grave of John Hartnell.
"Choose ye this day whom
ye will serve" Joshua... On the grave of William Braine.
I pondered the idea of mischievous misdoings on the ships. Did the crews take sides? Were there plans of a mutiny?
I looked towards the commanding Cape Riley and Cape Riddle at the entrance to the bay. I imagined the ships anchored in the sheltered water... I tried to think what the crew would have thought... I failed... I had no idea...
Our group of 10 headed to the ruins of Northumberland House on the other side of Beechey. Yet another stark reminder of the explorers of times-gone-by. The structure (a supply depot) was built seven years after the Franklin expedition went missing as a last ditch effort to save the crew. If any of the crew had managed to survive and make it back here, there'd be some food and supplies. The structure now lies in ruins - there are scattered remains of barrels and remnants of canned foods with beads of lead solder...
Many other cairns and monuments are dotted around the shores of this most lonely place commemorating the quest to find the elusive Northwest Passage...
Upon our return from the supply
John Torrington
one of the most remote cemeteries on the planet. depot I took another moment to sit by the graves again. I didn't have any whisky, but I toasted these explorers with my water bottle...
Dave
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Doug
non-member comment
Thanks
Fascinating images of this truly remote location and with it the sad tale of its history.