Franklin+Discovery

Appearance

The majority of the sailors on the Franklin expedition, with the exception of the officers and Franklin himself, were between the ages of 18 and 30 years old.

During the Victorian era, the lowest legal age for a sailor was 18. However, scientists from the Univeristy of Alberta discovered bones found to be the remains of a 12 or 13 year old, presumably a cabin boy.

The members of the crew of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror were British sailors, many of whom had been part of previous expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic. During the 19th century, sailors expecting to encounter cold climates would have worn clothes made chiefly from wool. However, apart from being warm the clothes were incredibly impractical. During the day the suffocatingly tight clothes would cause the wearer to sweat profusely, and at night once the clothes had dried they would become stiff, uncomfortable and would have restricted movement.

As these sorts of facts would already have been well known, the skills of scientists were unneccessary when determining the sailors' attire, age and other such factors of appearance. However, it was not until the bones were examined that the health of many of the crew members could be correctly assessed. High levels of lead were found as is discussed in Cause & Manner of Death - Theories

Back to main page