The Erebus, the Terror and the North-West Passage Did lead really poison Franklin's lost expedition?

摘要

In May 1845 two three-masted ships of the Royal Navy set sail from the Thames under the command of Sir John Franklin. The ships were HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The purpose of their expedition was to gather scientific data on magnetic variation in the northern polar seas, and - more gripping to the imagination - they were to attempt to establish a navigable North-West passage, the prized possible sea route across the top of Canada that had been sought for more than two hundred years. Prospects seemed good. Both vessels had originally been built as bomb-ships, for bombarding coastal forts with heavy mortars, so were already more strongly constructed than most. Both had been specially strengthened to withstand the pressure of ice. For the northern voyage both had been fitted with auxiliary steam engines (the boilers were adapted from railway locomotives) driving screw propellers - at the time a very new form of propulsion only recently introduced into the Royal Navy. The ships had been provisioned for three years, with canned meat rather that the traditional salted beef and pork that had been the staple diet of seafarers for centuries. This was a well-equipped expedition using the highest technology of the time.