FrankExp.+Discovery+of+bodies

Discovery of the Bodies

A significant constituent of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Franklin Expedition has been the failure to recover all of the bodies. Only a few remains have been recovered.

In 1850, the corpses of thirty men and multiple graves were discovered by Inuit hunters at the mouth of the Great Fish River on King William’s Island. In addition, a second Inuit group reported seeing approximately forty white men, thin in appearance, dragging a sled across the island. Despite language barriers, the men communicated that their ship had been beset in ice and that they were heading southward to hunt deer. They purchased seal meat from the natives.

Leopold McClintock, who led the last investigation into the whereabouts of Sir John Franklin, discovered the bleached skeleton of a Petty Officer on the 25 May 1859. Papers belonging to Harry Peglar, Captain of Foretop, HMS Terror were found in the immediate vicinity. The skeleton is estimated as most likely belonging to Thomas Armitage, Gun Room Steward, who was a friend of Peglar's. It is presumed that Armitage was carrying the papers with the motive of handing them over to Peglar's family, as an offering of consolation.

At a later date, on the 29th June 1981, scientists from the University of Alberta happened across a bleached human skull on the opposite side of King William Island to the site of the cairn, near Simpsons Strait. On Beechey Island, they soon discovered five graves, four topped with tombstones labelled with the inhabitant's name, age, and rank. It was confirmed that three of the graves belonged to some of the last-survivors of the Franklin expedition: John Torrington, John Hartnell and William Braine.

Various other remains have been found on separate occasions across King William's Island. A cluster of bones was found in Erebus Bay, including eight mandibles but after scientific analysis it was determined at least eleven individuals' remains were present. Particularly noteworthy was the discovery of a cairn at Victory Point. The cairn contained the only known written account of the fate of the men and expedition. Information, such as the death of many crew members and Franklin's own death, was revealed. It is also clear that the cairn was deliberately created, as many similar cairns have been found, though most have been plumaged by Inuit people.

Another investigator, Hobson, led his party to the west side of King William's Island where a lifeboat was discovered. The interior housed two human skeletons, as well as numerous artefacts, including boats, soap and handkerchiefs, apparently abandoned by Franklin's men.



Many creative strategies were used to find the men. An extract below describes two of which: //"One method used by the searchers to contact Franklin was to send aloft balloons with a long burning string to which coloured papers were attached at intervals. As the string burned, the papers would fall away over a wide range of territory with messages of the intended routes of the rescue ships. Some of these broadcast messages were found as far as fifty miles away from the ship which launched them. A less successful method used by James Ross and H.W. Austin was to trap foxes and release them again with metal collars, upon which were engraved ships positions and depots of provisions; but, there appears to be no record of these being later found by anyone." //

-- Forts, Charles Hoy. //The Book of the Damned,// chapter 11 [], accessed 14/08/2011

For a transcript of the writings found in the cairn click below. 

code Lieutenant Hobson and his men opening the cairn near Victory Point, King William Island, containing the only written record of the Franklin expedition's fate. code



code The notes found in the cairn at Victory Point on 5 May 1859

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