The Lost Franklin Expedition (2023 edition)
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- čas přidán 23. 08. 2024
- It was to be the best resourced, most scientifically advanced expedition in history, so what went so terribly wrong? Learn about this historical mission to find the North-West Passage.
Presented aboard Viking Jupiter December 2023
The poisoned lead sinks in the officer's cabin is a pretty good explanation for the bizarre cairn notes. Good lecture, keep up the good work!
33:26 huh? Wait. It wasn't just a random page from a random book... those were templates given to the command of any expedition to leave out in canisters. They should have had many of the exact same page to fill out. You can discern that by the fact that, in fact, Franklin was not the one who signed the note. Lt. Gore and Des Voeux did at the bottom of the notes, which isn't shown. And because the commander did not sign it, the printed line meant for a signature with the word: "commander" next to it have been crossed out... it was meant to be filled out like that.
Also, what isn't shown in the extract (and I suppose it was for the effect of discovering Fitzjames' addition...) are the instructions to send back that note to British Admiralty upon discovery. Instructions written in 6 different languages.
The goal of these notes was to leave out clues of where expedition ships had gone and where they were going 1) maybe for history keeping purposes 2) in case they needed rescue so that they could be found. The cairns were to be erected so that the notes would be easy to find and filled with chached provision in case the expedition, or their rescue, needed it.
It was actually stranger that no such notes had been left at Beechey Island with the graves.
I mean, yes, many of the things we've discovered about the expeditions last moment show that these men were in a weird headspace but the original Victory Point note was not one of them.
I don't know, I find that having these kind of factoids about the crumbs they were supposed to leave (and didn't) is more interesting for its historical funfactness than making up that they were already so disturbed they apparently just took the page of any book?
Holy ish you are smart.
So many interesting details that I have never heard of before in connection with Fanklin and his last adventure. Thank you!
Great talk by you.
I have strongly suspected that there was a mutiny early on at some point, hence the death of Franklin & so many officers compared to crew. That the ship's diary & surgeon's log has never been found is even more evidence in my mind something nefarious happened. Will we ever know?
36:40 Wasn't the idea that the uneaten chocolate was that the men were weary of it, as it was a new discovery from South America and they were suspicious of it?
Ironic if accurate. Worried about foreign chocolate whilst eating lead on their own ships 🥴
@@fairlyvague82 Yes, quite, though the lead-poisoning-causing-death theory has been disproven, as basically all 19 Century Londoners/big city dwellers in the UK had exposure to high levels of lead. However, it is thought the lead would have contributed to their deaths, made them sicker, weaker, in more pain and misery. But yes, there was a ships boat found by Francis McClintock (leader of one of the later search expeditions, 1859-circa) with 40 pounds of chocolate uneaten, two skeletons in the boat, and one sitting upright with a shotgun in each hand ("the Boat Place No 1 (McClintock)").
The levels of lead in the bodies of the men found on Beechy island were markedly higher than any average citizen. The lead poisoning came from cans which were bought on the cheap from Eastern Europe
Chocolate was eaten regularly in England since the mid 17th century. Get informed.
@@1knowndissident932 Why did you add the aggressive "get informed"? We were having a civil discussion on a completely non-politicised topic, but you just had to add vitriol into it? Please don't engage in civil discourses if you can't be civil. It's completely inappropriate and rude.
In so far as I'm aware, and my research has found, chocolate was not _eaten_ since the mid 17th Century, but _drunk_ with sugar a-plenty added by especially the Brits, who had a notorious (still do) sweet tooth, plus milk. And I didn't even need to throw an insult at you to say that! Imagine!