The Franklin Expedition: Its Demise and Legacy

Key Insight

The Franklin expedition, launched on May 19, 1845, with HMS Terror and Erebus and 134 men, aimed to connect existing Arctic routes and sail to the Bering Strait, an objective widely considered routine. After wintering at Beechey Island in 1845–46, where three men died, Franklin navigated north and then south, ultimately becoming wedged in heavy multiyear ice floes in Victoria Strait for the winter of 1846–47. The expedition's tragic downfall was rooted in a critical navigational error: Franklin had unknowingly chosen the wrong route, relying on James Ross's incorrect 1831 observation that King William Island and Boothia Peninsula were connected, thus leading them into impenetrable pack ice instead of the only practicable route along King William Island's east side, which featured only annual ice. Consequently, the ships never escaped the ice, and twenty-one men, including Franklin, died during the second winter in Victoria Strait.

The disappearance of Franklin's party triggered a massive search effort beginning in 1848, with approximately forty governmental, private, and international expeditions dispatched over a ten-year period, until Franklin and his men were officially declared dead in March 1854, with only the Beechey Island encampment initially found. The fate of the expedition was largely uncovered by Dr. John Rae, a Hudson's Bay employee, who in 1854 met Eskimos near Pelly Bay who reported seeing men abandoning the ships and later finding their bodies. Rae purchased relics, including a silver plate engraved with Franklin's name, for which he received £10,000. Lady Franklin, dissatisfied with this conclusion, continued to fund private searches, and in 1859, Francis M’Clintock, leading one such expedition, found the only records ever recovered—two notes in separate cairns on King William Island.

The search for Franklin captivated England's imagination more profoundly than the quest for a Northwest Passage ever had, fundamentally transforming Arctic exploration by shifting its focus from mere transit to overwintering and intensive regional mapping, which ironically produced the first extensive and accurate maps of the high Arctic. Despite the Admiralty awarding Robert M’Clure £10,000 (half the original prize) for discovering a Northwest Passage after his arduous journey, the Franklin disaster effectively ended significant British interest in finding the passage. Subsequent discoveries, including Crozier's April 25, 1848, message detailing Franklin's death and the survivors' desperate march south, and the poignant retrieval of personal effects from their abandoned boat, underscore the immense human cost and the enduring mystery of this monumental failure, which continues to resonate deeply in the North.