The 3rd Franklin Expedition

Preparation

The third Franklin expedition expanded on previous modifications to the HMS Erebus and Terror by adding a retractable propeller powered by a locomotive engine … Read more

The Voyage

On May 19th, 1845, at 10:30 am, the HM Ships Erebus and Terror weighed anchor and were towed down the river Thames on their adventure to find the Northwest Passage … Read more

Theories

When the Franklin expedition, on its search in the arctic waters of Canada for a Northwest Passage, hadn’t been heard from since it’s last sightings in late July 1845 … Read more

References for Timeline

  1. Michael Palin, Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time (Greystone Books, 2018), 187-189.
  2. William Battersby and Peter Carney, “Equipping HM Ships Erebus and Terror, 1845,” The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology 81, no. 2 (2013): 193-194, https://doi.org/10.1179/175812111X13033852943147.
  3. Palin, Erebus, 212.
  4. Palin, Erebus, 214.
  5. Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney, Mary Williamson, May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022), 261-297.
  6. Palin, Erebus, 235-36.
  7. Andrew D. Lambert, The Gates of Hell: Sir John Franklin’s Tragic Quest for the North West Passage (Yale University Press, 2009), 336-37.
  8. “Sir John Franklin’s Last Message.” Royal Museums Greenwich, 1847-1859. https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-504898.
  9. Lambert, The Gates of Hell, 337.
  10. Lambert, The Gates of Hell, 338.
  11. James Fitzjames and Francis Crozier, [Victory Point Note], 1847-48, manuscript, Royal Museums Greenwich, Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-504898.

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