Study offers new insights to the Franklin Expedition mystery

A new study by University of Glasgow researchers may give further insight to the deaths of all 129 crew of the ill-fated "Franklin Expedition" of 1845 which was lost in the Canadian Arctic as it attempted to navigate the final link in the fabled Northwest Passage in HMS Erebus and Terror . The recent discovery on 3rd September 2016 by the Arctic Research Foundation of the "pristine" wreck of HMS Terror and the earlier discovery in 2014 of HMS Erebus by Parks Canada lend particular relevance to the research. The Royal Naval expedition under the command of Captain Sir John Franklin was last seen entering the Arctic in July 1845. Its subsequent disappearance led to one of the greatest search-and-rescue missions in history. Three graves with ice-preserved corpses were discovered in 1850 in the northern Arctic, but only in 1859 were the remains of the rest of the crew discovered far to the south near the Canadian mainland. An enigmatic single-page document was also found, stating that the ships had become trapped in pack ice in 1846 before being deserted in 1848. Significant loss of life had occurred, particularly amongst the officers.