Historical detective: ships without captains. Canadians found the missing ship of Franklin's missing Russian expedition to be found with corpses

The researchers discovered the Terror ship, which came to the distance during the tragic expedition of John Franklin 1845. This is reported by Edition The Guardian.

In 1845, the Officer of the Royal Navy Sir John Franklin went to the expedition on the development of the Arctic on the ships "Erebus" and "Terror". The crew should have explored the so-called northwestern pass. The expedition became one of the most tragic in the history of the navy. From 129 people nobody returned alive.

Historians were able to trace the fate of the crew. It is known that in 1846, the ships clapped between the ice. The whole team remained wintering on King William Island. Most of the crew died from diseases, cold and probably poor-quality food. It is believed that 30-40 exhausted sailors on the ice got to the tribe of Eskimos. The head of the expedition and the captain of "Erebus" Franklin died from Qingi in the summer of 1847.

Owen Stanley, a sailor who served on "Terror" 10 years before the tragedy, sketched the ship in his diary. Jesse Winter / Toronto Star)

Searches for crew and ships began in 1848 under pressure from the public and Franklin's spouse. They lasted for several years, but turned out to be unsuccessful.

In 2014, the Government of Canada equipped the expedition, where the Russian icebreaker "Academician Sergey Vavilov" was also included. Its participants found a piece of metallic frame "Erebus". Initially, this ship was a sailing martial vessel, and later it was strengthened with an iron frame and equipped with a steam engine. The fate of the "terror" until recently remained unknown.

According to The Guardian edition, the tracks of "terror" managed to detect one of the eskimos. On September 11, members of the Arctic Research Foundation (Arctic Research Foundation) launched a Batiskof with remote control to one of the sloping vessel.

We successfully penetrated the cabin compartment, inspected several cabins, found food storage and plates, which still stand on the shelves. We found two bottles of wine, tables and an empty rack. Found a desktop with retractable open boxes, something lay in them.

Adrian Schimnowski (Adrian Schimnowski), Head of the Expeditionary Ship

The ship suitable for drawings and the description of the "terror" was found at about a hundred kilometers south than the researchers assumed. The Guradian notes that historians are now likely to build new versions of what happened.

Canadian entrepreneur and Philanthropy Jim Balzilli, who planned the expedition, put forward his theory:

This study changes history. Judging by the location of the "Terror" and his way, it is certainly possible to say that the ship was "canned", and his crew moved to Erebus, where the sailors later met their destiny.

The writer Dan Simmons devoted tragic events to the Roman "Terror". The plot was based on the real expedition of John Franklin, but the author added a mystical element to her. Based on the novel, the series is prepared from the AMC channel ("The Walking Dead"). E-shielding in 10 episodes should be released in 2017.

The last time they were seen in August 1845. Two British vehicles under the terrible names of Erebus ("darkness") and Terror ("Horror") with 129 sailors on board expected in the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffin not far from the shores of Greenland of suitable weather, to swim further, in the unknown waters of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The expedition headed by the latter in the last word, led by Sir John Franklin, was supposed to put the point in search of the cherished North-West passage, but disappeared in ruthless polar ice, and her lidget of her death since then does not give rest to which the generation of adventure crawls.

Only in 2014, Canadian scientists discovered the drowned "Erebus", and more recently, on September 3, after 170 years of searches were found and Terror.

The opening of America for the entire monumentality of this event for the history of mankind did not take off the agenda to another superchactual task at that time - the search for a new way to India. The phenomenal wealth of the new part of the world has not yet become known to Europeans, and both America were perceived as an annoying interference, which blocking the way to Asia. In 1522, Fernan Magellan's expedition completed the first round-the-world swimming in the South American continent. The agenda remained the issue of the so-called North-West Passage - a promising sea route along the northern shore of North America.

The first attempt to discover it was taken by the British in 1497, but in the end, the search was stretched for four centuries. The best navigaters of their time tried to cope with the task - from Henry Hudzon to James Cook. But on the way of the heroes, the impassable ice of the Arctic, the confused labyrinth of the straits and the bays of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Extreme Weather, which left little chance of success, but it was regularly taken for conquering itself the highest price - human lives.

The studies of the Canadian Arctic were activated in the XIX century, and, despite all the objective difficulties, by the middle of the century, the size of a white spot on the geographical maps of North America has decreased to a minimum of less than the territory of modern Belarus. British Admiralty seemed to have remained to make the last, but a decisive step in a hundred miles long, and it was assigned to John Franklin - experienced, although quite older by that time a 59-year-old polar explorer, who had already committed three large-scale Arctic expeditions.

There was no problem with financing. For swimming, the British Royal Fleet provided two ships who have already visited the Arctic (and Antarctic) campaigns. On Erebus, which became the flagship, and Terror immersed almost a hundred tons of food (flour, gallets, rope, vegetable and canned meat). Not forgotten about the means against Qingi, this is the scourge of all navigators: four tons of lemon juice should have helped to cope with it.

The hulls of sailboats for swimming in a complex ice setting were strengthened with metal sheets, on them as additional power plants mounted steam engines removed from locomotives. The heating system and the water distillation system completed the advanced technical equipment of the ships at that time. Everything was ready for many years of journey, whose goal was the long-awaited northwestern passage.

Franklin's expedition went into diving on May 19, 1845. Having stopped at the Greenland Bay of Disco, where the board of "Erebus" and "Terror" left five guilty sailors (thereby saved their lives), ships with 129 people on board went on deep into the Northern Ocean. In August, the kitoboy was last seen them in the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffhin, after which the traces of sailboats and their inhabitants were lost for almost a decade.

Anxiety in the Admiralty was scored only two years later. On the one hand, it was clear that the conquest of the North-West passage would require wintering (and, most likely, not even one), on the other - the absence of all sorts of Westa began to alate. In 1848, the expedition of the authoritative polar explorer James Ross was sent to Franklin's search and his detachment, who sailed on Erebus and Terror. This event ended with a complete failure, but Ross had many followers, which in a large extent contributed to the British government award in £ 20 thousand - a significant amount at that time.

In August 1850, five years later, after the day, Franklin's ships were seen the last time, some of their traces were finally discovered. On a small island of Beech by Devon, the largest uninhabited island on the planet, the captain team Horace Austin found traces of wintering, and nearby - three graves of sailors from the crew of Franklin.

In a lifeless rocky landscape of the island forgotten by God and people, the Kochegar John Torrington, the sailor John Hartnell and the ordinary marines of William Brain, who died in January - April 1846, found their last refuge. It became clear that they were the victims of the first wintering of the expedition, which were squeezed by the ice "Erebus" and "Terror" spent at the island of Beech.

In 1854, during the study of the Bouti Peninsula, John Ray's traveler gathered a number of stories of local Inuit. Aborigines in one voice argued that they saw a group of several dozen "white people" who died from hunger at the mouth of the large local river tank. At the same time, the aliens, judging by the evidence of Eskimos, before the death of the corpses of their comrades. The alleged cannibalism among the members of the crew "Erebus" and "Terror" deeply outrered their colleagues left in the UK, and the widow of Franklin. The public completely rejected the insinuations, which was assumed that the sailor of the Royal Fleet could fall to eating themselves like.

In addition to verbal evidence, Ray has collected and real evidence of the death of an expedition, bought out cutlery from "Erebus" found by them from the Inuit. This turned out to be enough for Franklin and the company recognized the dead, and their search was officially stopped. Nevertheless, the history of doomed in the polar desert at all is not over.

After another four years, another search squad, funded this time, personally by a widow of Franklin, during the study of the largest island King William, located between the Boution Peninsula and the Puck River, made a long-awaited find. Among the polar expeditions, especially when something went wrong, it was accepted just in case to leave their possible rescuers of messages under special stone pyramids - Gurii. It was this document that was discovered in King William, and its content was shed light on the fate of travelers.

Message, in fact, represented two notes made at different times. The first was written after the second wintering:

"May 28, 1847. Her Majesty's ships "Erebus" and "Terror" Winter in ice under 70 ° 5 'p. sh. and 98 ° 23 's. D. Winter 1846-1847 spent at the island of Beech under 74 ° 43'28 "s. sh. and 91 ° 39'15 "s. D., pre-climbing the spiring of Wellington to 77 ° Northern latitude and returning to the western side of Cornwallis Island. The expedition commands Sir John Franklin. Everything is fine. The party of two officers and six sailors left the ship on Monday on May 24, 1847. "

After familiarization with this text, several questions remained at once. First, it is obvious that the situation was difficult to describe how "everything is in order." Among the crew members were already the first victims, and as many as eight people managed to throw their ships and comrades, going to meet death. In addition, the authors of the message for an unknown reason are entangled in dates. Wintering at the island of Beech happened a year earlier. In the summer of 1846, the liberated ships drifted among the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, in the end, descending south to King William Island, where they spent the winter of 1846-1847, and in the spring they described their adventures in the specified document.

The second note was made a year later on the fields first:

"April 25, 1848. Her Majesty's ships "Erebus" and "Terror" were abandoned on April 22 in 5 leagues to the north-north-west of this place, being heated with ice from September 12, 1846. Officers and crews consisting of 105 people under the captain team F. R. M. Krozye became the camp here, under 69 ° 37'42 "p. sh. and 98 ° 41 's. d.

Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847, the total losses of the expedition at the moment - 9 officers and 15 sailors.

James Fitzjeysh, the captain of Her Majesty's ship "Erebus", F. R. M. Krozye, Captain and senior officer. Tomorrow we speak to the fish river ".

In this text, the faithful chronology is restored. So, King William "Erebus" and "Terror" ended up in the whole two winters: the summer of 1847 was too short and cold, the ice around the ships did not have time to melt. By the spring of 1848, 24 people died out of 129 crew members, including the head of the John Franklin expedition. The remaining sailors feeling their impotence before the polar semi-desert surrounding them and being threatened with hunger and inevitable death, went to the desperate adventure. They decided with the remnants of the supplies and equipment to try to get to the Big Earth. The nearest base of Hudson Bay in the Fort resolution was 2210 kilometers south.

Doomed polar explosives built from boats improvised sleighs that they were forced to drag themselves. Exhausted three wintering, suffering from diseases, extreme weather, hunger, they are from the last strength of the fiber these sleigh, periodically losing their comrades. One of the boats was found in 1854. In addition to two skeletons, it found books, soap, sewing supplies, sailor gloves, guns and knives, two roll lead, shoes and silk scarves - things both necessary and absolutely unnecessary in the hike.

The skeleton remains of sailors were periodically over the next decades. Apparently, most of the crew of "Erebus" died on King William. The survivors managed to get to the desired mouth of the river tank, where they saw Eskimos. Most likely, at this stage, they ended with provisions, which led to cannibalism: his traces were recorded on the human bones discovered later.

In the mid-1980s, Canadian scientists decided to exhumage the body of three sailors who died on the island of Beachy still during the first wintering in 1846. At first, the grave of John Torington was opened, and his photos perfectly preserved for 140 years in the permafrost mummy flew off the whole world.

The pathology studies of the remains showed that the unfortunate kochegar, who died on January 1, 1846, suffered from exhaustion and pneumonia. In addition, an increased lead content was discovered in its tissues. Immediately arose versions that the cause of the death of Torrington (and together with him and the other members of the Franklin team) could become lead poisoning. Canning banks found on their parkingians were sealed by the tricks, using lead solder who joined in direct contact with food. The high lead content was in fresh water, which was given by distillation systems installed on ships.

In itself, the poisoning of lead to kill sailors could not. However, it, apparently, substantially weakened the immunity of crew members, after which they became light victims of weather, hunger, zinggi and other diseases. Torrington and his comrade William Brain, whose bodies have survived to this day, died from pneumonia. The third of the buried on the island of Beech is a sailor Hartnell - died from tuberculosis. Most likely, the fate waited and the rest of their colleagues.

For a complete understanding of the Franklin's disappected expedition, the scientist lacked only one - to find her missing ships. Decades of fruitless searches ended quite recently. In 2014, "Erebus" was discovered to the south of King William at a depth of 11 meters. Canadians raised on the surface of his ship bell and one of ten guns.

September 3, 2016 found both "terror". The ship is perfectly preserved and was mocked by his team: all doors, windows and other holes were neatly closed. Leaving the vessel was considered in the royal fleet with a grave crime, and the crew, apparently, did not lose hope to return to him. The Salvation "Terror" did not wait, in the end, sunk in the bay, which is now His name, southeast of the King William coast.

The find of "Erebus" and "Terror", answering some questions of researchers of the fate of Franklin's expedition, immediately delivered new ones. Based on the content of the note found under the pyramid of stones in 1854, both ships were abandoned simultaneously at the point in a hundred kilometers from those places where they eventually discovered. Perhaps this is due to the natural drift of ships lined with ice, sunken in the end at different times. The second version argues that at least some crew members, leaving sailboats on April 22, 1848, could subsequently return to them to continue their way to the mouth of the river Tank.

By itself, the Franklin expedition itself, the purpose of which was the final conquest of the North-Western passage, ended with full collapse at the very beginning of this path. Where more useful information for humanity brought her dramatic and delayed searching for decades. Back in 1853, one of the numerous rescue parties headed by Robert McKurra, moving from the West, actually passed this so-welded route, however, throwing his ship on the way and finishing him on the sleigh on the ground. Finally, the north-western passage on the ship was caught only the famous Norwegian Roal Amundsen only at the very beginning of the XX century.

After a century, due to melting of the ice, this cherished passage became available for navigating in the summer months without excavation of icebreakers. In the summer of 2016, a dear, a dream of which was destroyed by hundreds of travelers, passed the first large cruise ship. About a thousand passengers, having posted from $ 22,000 from their own pocket, and a month with a little reached from Anchorage on Alaska to New York. On the way, Crystal Serenity liner and King William island, and Beach Island. 129 sailors, three years lived in an ice hell, gave their lives including for the sake of this.

On the reasons of history, the series terror came out the other day.

Terror is an American television series based on the novel of the American Writer Dan Simmons. The premiere in the United States took place on March 26, 2018, in Russia - March 29.

In 1845, the expedition under the command of an experienced polar researcher Sir John Franklin is sent on the courts "Terror" and "Erebus" to the northern coast of Canada to search for the North-West passage from the Atlantic Ocean in a quiet - and disappears without a trace. The search for her was dragged for several decades, information about her fate was collected literally on the bitches, and until now the picture of the white spots happened.

At the end of the trailer.

Stories, apparently, the English sense of humor is inherent. Usually it retains the names of successful travelers. But in the case of the Franklin expedition, which became the largest failure of all Arctic studies, made an exception.

Maria Pimenova

On a sunny day 19 May 1845, a huge crowd gathered on the Pier of English Greenheit. The mood reigned festive: the two ships of the Royal Navy - "Erebus" and "Terror" - went to the Arctic. High ranks uttered pathetic speeches, played the orchestra, the girls pressed to the eyes of the handkerchief, accomplishing the sailors dressed in the parade shape. Even the head of the expedition Sir John Franklin wave a bright red-green handkerchief of his wife Lady Jane and daughter Eleonore, while the pier did not deployed the cargo ship with the baytto junior supplies.

The ships disappeared beyond the horizon, and it was the last time 129 sailors were seen alive. The expedition of Franklin disappeared without a trace, becoming one of the most tragic and mysterious pages in the Arctic study and at the same time breeding many speculations about the fate of the sailors.

Go there, I do not know where

Before the expedition, there was a goal - to open, or rather, to pay off an exeter-western pass, the shortest way from the Atlantic Ocean in a quiet through the Canadian archipelago. The case seemed to be for small. By the middle of the XIX century, only a small part of the path remained undiluted. It was instructed to apply to John Franklin's cards to once again approve Britain in the status of Queen Seas.

Moreover, it was better to hurry, because the Russian Empire had already breathed in the back of the English lords, in those years, owned (through the Russian-American trading company) with significant territories in Alaska, in Canada and California.

Franklin expedition route

❶ Ships left Greenheait in May 1845.
❷ The last time the expedition was seen in the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffin in August of the same year.
❸ on about. Beach in 1850 rescuers found a note of John Franklin.
❹ Ships frozen into ice off the coast about. King William.
❺ Erebus ends found in the Bayen-mod bay in 2014.

The search for the North-West Passage was conducted from the middle of the XVI century, and quite successful. In 1576-1631, significant territories were opened by the British: the shedding of Davis and the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffin, Goodzons of the Strait, Goodzons Bay and Fox Pool. In the 20s of the XIX century, Englishman William Parry opened the strait of Lancaster, Barrow and Bajun Melville; In the next expedition - Fury-and-Hekla Strait and Prince Ridge.

Therefore, the task of Franklin's expedition did not seem impossible: it was necessary only to examine a small plot in the Canadian Arctic. True, no ship has yet come to the south of the strait of Lancaster and weest from the Peninsula of Beech due to heavy ice conditions. However, this time the British geographical society decided to go Wa-Bank.

How do you call the ship

If white bears knew how to read, they would certainly appreciate English humor, seeing the names on the boards of ships. The flagship "Erebus" ("darkness") and "terror" ("horror") were an impressive spectacle. At equipment did not save: experimental steam engines were on ships. The enclosures were reinforced with additional metal plates, several layers of teak wood and Canadian knight, added to the original oak trim. In addition, the "Erebus" and "Terror" have already managed to pass combat baptism - participated in the successful Antarctic Expedition of James Ross 1839-1843. So the courts could pass - and passed - through such ice, where no other vessel of that time would be able to survive.

Nevertheless, the alarming bells began at the preparation stage: the Admiralty appealed with the honorary proposal to lead a new expedition to the organizer of one of the first campaigns to the North Pole of William Parry, but he politely replied that the Northern London would prefer a boring staff in London. The second candidate - James Ross, who was considered ascending star of polar research, refused, explaining that after a recent wedding, the warm bed of a young wife interests him much stronger than the eternal Merzlot. The third challenger was too young, and the fourth in general Irishman! (The last, by the way, still hit the expedition: James Fitzjeims became the captain of "Erebus", and Francis Moira Krozye - the captain "Terror".)

As a result, it is pretty suffering, the Admiralty invited John Franklin, which is not enough that he had three unsuccessful expeditions by shoulders, but also became old for such campaigns (at the time of the start of the navigation he was 59 years old). In addition, he was called "a man who eaten his shoes": during the land expedition to Canada, which Franklin was headed in 1819, he and his people, having heard from hunger, had to include sleeping bags from bullless skin in the diet footwear. Then, by the way, John Franklin was looking for all the same northwestern passage.

Search History

According to the most optimistic forecast, Erebus and Terror should have overcome the North-West passage over the summer of 1845, reach Alaska, Russia and China and go into the warm water of the Pacific Ocean. But in London, they understood that, most likely, the ships will have to be minimized in the ice. Therefore, the first three years no one was particularly worried about the lack of Westa.

Lady Jane Franklin scored the first alarm, John Franklin's wife. In 1848, she called on the Admiralty to send ships in search of her husband. To raise an inert bureaucratic car a little, Lady Franklin launched a campaign in the press and announced awards to anyone who informs information about the expedition.

The latter, who saw in the living ships of Franklin, were the crews of two whaling vessels in the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffin in August 1845, that is, three months after the start of the expedition. At the same time, during the last parking lot in the Bay of Disco on the West Coast of Greenland, five people from the crew were planted on the accompaniment ships and sent home. Surely later, they repeatedly told this story in the port pubs behind the mug of Ale.

In the footsteps of "Erecus" and "Terror", the ships "Enterprise" and "Investigator" went under the leadership of Captain James Ross, three years before that, the far-sightedly refused to lead the expedition. But the rescuers themselves collided with the harsh weather conditions, and, having spent three winter in the ice, did not returned Solono Bread.

Typically, the captains were erected by the pyramids of stones on the islands along the path of the ship, leaving written messages for rescuers. But not at this time. As it turns out later, from 200 issued for this purpose of copper cylinders, John Franklin used only one at the end of May 1847, and the note was drawn up confused and non-informatively. By an inexplicable reason, Franklin missed the year, confused the coordinates of the island, next to which ships were located, and completed the note with the optimistic "All Good!", Which can be interpreted and how "everything is fine", and how "everything is fine." And this is despite the fact that at that time a minimum of three team members died! But what course will ships go further - there was not a word in the document.

The same thing concerned the backup plan - food warehouses in the case, if the sailors have to leave the ships and return on foot, which was often practiced. Rescuers did not find a hint of them! Ships and people seemed to evaporate in the air.

This failure and a solid amount of 20,000 pounds spurred universal interest. By 1850, the missing was looking for a total of 13 ships from England and the United States and several land expeditions. Then, on the island of Beach, three graves of Franklin crew sailors dated April 1846 were found. But the fate of the other participants in the expedition and ships did not clarify.

New data appeared four years later, and absolutely randomly. Traveler John Ray, who investigated the Bay Peninsula for the Gully Peninsula, met the group of Eskimos, and they told him about 35-40 killed on white people and even showed items that belonged to them. On forks, spoons and knives stood the stamp of the ship "Erebus".

In England, John Franklin, despite the failure of the expedition, was considered a folk hero who mastered the head of the crown. So this discovery could be glorifying John Ray and make it in his homeland a universal favorite. But in the report directed to the Admiralty, he indicated that, from the words of Eskimos, in the last days, sailors from Erebus and Terror, judging by the state of the corpses and the contents of Kotelkov, were engaged in cannibalism.

Such stains on the reputation of the people's hero John Franklin, the British public could not serve. In the press began injury John Ray. Multiple crushing articles wrote even Charles Dickens. So that the English officers fall to the cannibal? It's unthinkable! Of course, the blasphemous thought is that only the Christian morality and a sense of debt in front of the homeland will not be fed, no one came into the head.

Be that as it may, the Admiralty could not continue to allocate funds in search of sailors, since, first, it was obvious that after almost ten years old who was alive, and secondly, the Crimean agenda became more relevant agenda War with Russia. The members of the expedition were officially announced "tragically died in the performance of official debt."

Resistant Lady Jane Franklin refused the title of widow and the military pension due to her and equipped another expedition at his own expense, bought a steam 177-ton yacht "Fox". And in 1859, on the island of King William, it was possible to find three skeletons and a note, scratched on the fields of the document left by Franklin. She is partly and shed light to events.

If the tone of the first letter was major-raised, then from the second, written in just a year later, was desperate. The author, the captain of Terror, Francis Moira Krozye, reported that after two incredibly complex wintering in ice, the remaining sailors left the ships and on April 22, 1848 went to the south. Back in the message it was said that the head of the expedition Sir John Franklin died on June 11, 1847. So, he could in no way be involved in cannibalism or other actions, inappropriate gentleman, as Jane Franklin, with pride, reported to the newspaper.

The search for the remains of sailors and the ships themselves continued until the 1880s, but in general, no special success was achieved. But rescue expeditions made a huge contribution to the opening of the Arctic region, causing a thousand kilometers of the coastline of the Canadian Arctic to the map. Ironically, the loss of the expedition brought much more geographical knowledge than it could have a successful return.

A new wave of interest in the Franklin expedition rose after a hundred years. With the help of modern technologies, researchers have found several more artifacts and remains of Franklin's people with markings from cutting items, which, alas, confirmed the version of cannibalism. The search for the Franklin expedition became a separate genre of adventure lovers. In this field, even the famous "survival" Bear Grill was noted. In 2010, he went on two hard inflatable boats to the Northwestern Passion to draw attention to the problem of global warming.

The Erebus core was found in September 2014 at a depth of 11 meters in the eastern part of the Quin Mod Bay. Two years later, near the island of Nunavut, "Terror" was found.

Island of bad luck

From 1819 to 1836, 513 people participated in the expeditions, 513 people participated, seventeen were killed. None of the expeditions examined the region as before and after Franklin, did not suffer such significant losses. Therefore, the fate of "Erebus" and "Terror" brought to the idea that something extraordinary was happening. Which versions did not appear in the press - from mysterious disease, which struck the whole team, to a giant and, apparently, pretty frost-resistant booms!

Jules Verne in the "Travel and Adventures of Captain Gatteras" suggested that the Franklin's expedition stumbled upon a huge operating volcano under the North Pole, and Dan Simmons in the Roman "Terror" one after another mourn the sailors to the bloodthirsty Eskimo demon in the Bed of White Bear Tunbac. (By the way, on this novel in April 2018, the series was released.)

The loss of two ships equipped with the latest technology, and even the best sailors of the Royal Navy on board, seemed impossible. And disparate finds only added riddles.

Now that the ships are found and the path of the expedition is reconstructed, it is clear that there was not some one factor to the catastrophe, but a series of unlucky accidents and patterns.

Start with the fact that John Franklin chose the wrong route. At about the end of August 1846, the ships reached the island of King William, and the head of the expedition had to be solved, walk along the western coast or east. According to the charter, such a decision could be accepted only after the exploration of the terrain of ice boats. There were two of them on the expedition, and very experienced. They should have reported that, although the way to the West is shorter, it was there that a strong wind drives the Pak ice straight from the Arctic Ocean. The east coast of King William is covered with ice minimum a month later. John Franklin nevertheless decided to go to the West, and after a week, ships tightly frozen into the ice, as reported in his note Captain Crozier.

Low temperatures have deprived people of the ability to hunt for seals, walrles or caribou - the usual summer inhabitants of those latitudes. Yes, and in any case, among the participants of the expedition, there was not a single person who would have hunting skills on large animals. Dunning's effect worked: the British were confident that if the Dicari Eskims had learned to survive in the harsh conditions of the Arctic, then it would not be difficult for high-cyborne Europeans.

This was added a banal error in the calculations. It was assumed that people were provided with a provisionant for three years in a complete diet or seven years in the case of a strongly cut, but still acceptable day soldering. However, in reality, food was barely enough until spring of 1848. In addition, part of canned food turned out to be unsuitable due to the banal negligence and greed of the supplies.

The admiralty has concluded a contract for just a few months before the start, and the canned ships were delivered in a terrible hurry two days before sailing. Check quality did not have time. Canned food turned out to be low, almost half of them were lean, and a lead from the solder fell into food. Later, rescue expeditions in several places found sealed banks filled with rotten meat, and sometimes even sawdust or sand. The same fate has suffered a major means to combat quantity - canned lemon juice.

In 1980, the Canadian Anthropologist Warren Biti exHegumed the remains of three sailors from the island of Beech. In addition to banal diagnoses like exhaustion, tuberculosis and pneumonia, researchers revealed that in the bones of all buried lead content ten times exceeded the norm. In itself, it could not cause death, but very strongly weakened the organism resistance to other diseases and harsh conditions.

As a result, in April 1848, when it became obvious that the only chance to escape was to leave the ships, before the limit, and suffered from Qingi sailors stood almost impossible task. They needed to make a grueling trip to the south and have time to get to the coast of the mainland, until frosts were swam. The remnants of spoiled canned food would hardly be enough for the whole journey, and hope was that they would meet on the path of Eskimos, which will share with them food or teach to hunt.

Therefore, unused people were dragging boats, full of completely unnecessary to survive things, but which could be exchanged for food. On the island of King William, one of the rescue expeditions discovered a boat, loaded with table silver, books, porcelain dishes ...

But with useful things it was more difficult. On board "Terror" and "Erebus" stood Frazerovsky patented plates, too cumbersome for transportation. This meant that, having left the ship, people were deprived of hot food and were forced to eat only fiddling meat and frozen soups. On weak alcohols, which were invented by the sailors, it was impossible to heat up (only to a temperature slightly above zero), besides, they were needed to heat the ice to obtain water.

The expedition was waiting for the sad finale: all participants died even until the end of 1848, and not coming to help. And no matter how much the temptation to write off the failures of the expedition to evil forces, aliens or monstrous monsters, which happened to the expedition ideally describes the "Hanlon Razor": "Never attribute evil intent what it is possible to explain nonsense." Or, as in the case of Franklin, incompetence, negligence and self-confidence.

But, on the other hand, after all, only challenging circumstances, humanity managed to get to the poles, go down to the bottom of the oceans and send to Cosmos Tesla. And the fact that in the eyes of contemporaries - dementia and courage, in the eyelids will remain mad of brave.

The American Writer Dan Simmons is one of those authors who manage the works of absolutely any genre. At his account, monumental science fiction novels about the search for God in the world of the future, spy thrillers about the confrontation of intelligence in the era of the Second World War and simply cool detectives.

At the same time, the books of Simmons have one distinguishing feature: they almost always have real historical personality. English poet of the XIX century John Kitts in the fantastic world of Hyperion songs. Writer Ernest Hamingway in the spy thriller "Bell on Ham" and Charles Dickens in "Drud, or a man in black." And another 129 team members of two British ships "Erebus" and "Terror", which in 1845 went to search for the North-West Passage and disappeared. About them Simmons in 2007 came out the volumetric novel "Terror".

The AMC TV channel launched the eponymous series based on the novel. An excellent reason to remember, about which there was a book and how Simmons managed to get closer to the mystery of the disappearance of two ships.

Missing Franklin Expedition
After Christopher Columbus ships rid of America's land at the end of the 15th century, navigators decided not to give up and still find a short path from Europe to Asia. We were looking for mainly in the north, which is why this hypothetical path received its name - northwest passage. There were many expeditions for its detection, thanks to which the navigators studied the coast of what is now called North America. However, pass through the ice of modern Canada from the Atlantic Ocean in a quiet, everything could not be able to.

But navigas did not lose hope after a time they went to dangerous expeditions. Due to this, by the middle of the XIX century, only a small area of \u200b\u200babout 180 thousand square kilometers remained unexplored in the Canadian Arctic. It is about both the four Moscow region. It was assumed that somewhere in this unknown area and is the cherished North-West Passage. It was there that the ships "Erebus" and Terror went.
And Erebus, and Terror treated the so-called "scorer ships" - that is, they were built for war. In the XVIII century, such vessels, as a rule, were used to act as seaside fortresses.

Terror was launched in 1813 and managed to participate in the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815. It, for example, was used in the battles in Connecticut and in Georgia. "Erebus" first went into swim in 1826, so he did not find the war.

Both ships were developed with a large margin of strength - they had to withstand the monstrous return of Trehton Mortira. Therefore, when the English Admiralty needed durable ships to study Antarctic, the choice stopped on these two courts.
Both ships could go under the sail, but before expeditions, they were additionally equipped with locomotive engines, allowed to move at a speed of 7.5 kilometers per hour.

In order for the teams not frills, the heating system was made on both ships - the pipes with steam. In addition, wooden hulls strengthened with metal, and the engineers added special armored niches under the rowing screws and rudders, in which they could hide from ice.

In 1840, the ships sailed from Tasmania to the south and soon reached Antarctica. After that, two new geographical objects appeared on the map of the southern continent - Erebus volcanoes and terror.

Both ships were twice in Antarctica, where they showed well, so subsequently the Admiralty and sent them to the Canadian Arctic in search of the North-West Pass. Thought officials over this not long.
But what I had to think about, so it's over those who will lead the expedition. Candidates were enough, but they were all sifled one by one. At first, they wanted to send a person who organized one of the very first expeditions to the North Pole - William Perry. But he refused. Then the commander's position was offered to Sir James Ross, who, by the way, a couple of years before and drove "Erebus" with Terror in Antarctica. But he banned his wife.

After a few more "inappropriate" candidates, one is too young, another inappropriate "Irish" origin - officials decided to appoint the commander of an experienced polar explorer John Franklin. At that time it was 59 years old.

Franklin was led by an expedition from the ship "Erebus", and the direct captains were two people, before that we claimed the role of the commander. "Erebus" rules of the young James Fitzjeims, and "Terror" - Irishman Francis Krozye, who, by the way, has already commanded the ship during the expedition to Antarctica.

From left to right: Commander John Franklin, Captain
Francis Krozye, Captain James Fitzjeims. In life and in the series

Both ships sailed from the shores of England in May 1845. Initially, there were 134 people on board - among them 24 officers. Subsequently, five for inappropriate behavior were sent back to the shore, so the final composition of the team of both ships was 129 people.

In August 1845, Erebus and Terror fell into the eyes of two whaling ships. It was in the sea of \u200b\u200bBuffin - west of Greenland. After that, no one else saw them.

Cause of death
The expedition was designed for several years - the reserve of food would have enough for three years of the full life in ice: 55 tons of flour, 8 thousand canned cans with vegetables, meat and soup. Therefore, in England, two missing ships were not immediately enough - only in 1848 a search operation was launched. Looking for both water, and on land. And in 1850 the searches were partially crowned with success.
In the small island of Beech, the graves of the three members of the missing expedition were found, who died shortly after "Erebus" and "Terror" fell into the Canadian Arctic. Looking forward, let's say that more than a hundred years, in 1984, scientists exhumed their bodies to explore. It turned out that shortly before the death they had tuberculosis and pneumonia. In addition, in the dead tissues an increased lead content was observed, which indicated lead poisoning.
In 1859, the search operation members were lucky again - on King William Island, which is about 700 kilometers south of the island of Beech, a pyramid was found isolated from stones. In it - a leaflet with two messages. The first was written in May 1847 by a group of two officers and six sailors who came ashore. The second - in April 1848 by the captain "Terror" by Francis Krozye. In the first message it was said that the ships spent last winter at the island of Beech that John Franklin was still commanding the expedition and that was all good.
That same note. In the handwritten text it is reported that everything is fine. In the fields - the post made a year later. The team's mood is already different: everything is bad. The printed text in different languages \u200b\u200breports that anyone who finds this note must transfer it to the representatives of the Admiralty in London.
In the second note written in the fields first, it was said that "Erebus" and "Terror" were locked in ice near the island of King William, and the teams had to leave them. By that time, 105 remained out of 129 people. Under the leadership of Captain Francis Krozye, they smashed the camp on land.

It also said that the Commander of the expedition John Franklin died on June 11, 1847. The cause of death is unknown, as well as the burial place. Subsequently, it turned out that out of 105 people who came to the shore under the command of the krozye to survive also could not anyone. Their bones found much later in various parts of King William island, testified that at some point the sailors were desperate so much that they had reached the cannibalism.

The mystery of the disappearance of the two ships worried humanity throughout the XIX and XX centuries. In 2014, researchers found under water near the island of King William, the remains of the ship "Erebus". And in September 2016, Terror was found in the same areas. The team of one of the ships noticed an old mast, peeking out of the water. Terror was almost intact, and part of his cabin was sealed for the winter.

There is a lot of versions about what happened to Erebus and Terror. The most realistic at the moment is a bad preparation for the expedition. The provisional was collected in a hurry, because of what the food in many cans was poisoned by a lead soldier. In addition, Lead came to the body of sailors with water from desalination systems of ships. The mass poisoning of heavy metal aggravated the epidemic of the Qingi.

This disease occurs due to the lack of vitamin "C" the body and can lead to a painful death. On "Erebus" and "Terror" there were more than four tons of lemon juice to protect the team from this attack, but due to long storage, he lost his healing properties. The inexperience of the team had also affected: out of 129 people, only the commander John Franklin, captain Francis Kryzye, and a couple of pilots were for the polar circle.

The main enemy is not a monster, but bad preparation
Despite the latest discoveries, there are still enough spaces in this story - and Dan Simmons in the Roman "Terror" tried to fill them. It turned out or not, it's hard to say. The author thoroughly worked with sources, thoroughly studying the way of life on the ship of the XIX century, stuck in the ice. Because of this, sometimes it seems that you read not an artistic work, but someone's memoirs.

Like a sailor, who has once visited the polar circle, Simmons generously shares the nuances of such experts. A spacious fur coat from the animal skins, which reliably saved the cold from the cold better than the waterproof chinel, a fuffy, sweater and several layers of woolen shoes under it. Fresh raw meat will save you from zing. But the liver of a polar bear in food is not suitable, as she is poisonous. And it is easier to get to the human brain, if you pierced a spoonful of the palate in the mouth of a dead man ...

But to name the novel historical language does not turn, because there, where the facts are not enough in reality, Dan Simmons resorts to the help of the mythology of the Greenland Eskimos.

According to the plot, Erebus and Terror are not just stuck in ice, but also become a prey of some creature similar to a huge poorer bear. It deftly floats under water, without effort, he scans the metal bulkheads and is able to tear a person in pieces in one fell. And what is the most terrible, the monster is clearly intelligent.

In the book Simmons, almost until the final retained the name and nature of this creature in secret. Mutant? Some kind of white bear? Disguised Eskimos? But in the series AMC, the secret is revealed in the first series in the very first scene: "His name is Tunbak. It is made of flesh and char. "
Once at once, the creature attacked the sailors, drags them under the ice or just breaks into parts, and then collects a terrible puzzle from bloody pieces, driving adult men in panic. People do not know what they encountered and try to overcome the creature with the help of tricks and weapons.

They set the traps, but the monster turns herself to cunning, turning every new meeting with him into a massacre. It would be possible to blame Dan Simmons in vulgarity: take and turn a rich historical material in history in the spirit of "Alien".

However, the author's Tunbak is not so much a monster as an allegory to the Arctic, which kills people who are not ready for a meeting with her. Tunbak in Terror almost always stands behind the scenes. He kills sailors, but is not the main cause of the death of the expedition.

"Erebus" and "Terror" were doomed long before the meeting with him. The ice, which gradually crushes the ships stuck in it, the lack of food, poisoned canned food and qing - these are true enemies of people. Sailors do not know how to hunt for walrles and seals, they can not get fresh meat to fit. Day for the day of the hunger makes them weak, and the running ration tears blood vessels, condemned to the painful death.
The morale of the team falls. On the threshold of imminent death, the ranks and position in society have no matter. Begins the struggle for power. The closest and low people rise to the surface, and some kind helper of the pantry suddenly turns out to be the lord of the shower and destinies.

Here it would be possible to recall "under the dome" Stephen King or his "MGLU". But the heroes of Simmons are not locked in place isolated from the world. They are free to go anywhere, the benefit of the Arctic air even turned into a solid surface. The means for survival is also plentiful, because the Eskimoshos are survive in these parts.

However, it is necessary to know exactly which way to go and what to do to survive, because the slightest mistake is equivalent to death. But with this, just the problems. Eskimos who could teach, then the case is dying from bullets of white people. And the attempt to warn the command that it is necessary to turn, otherwise I will come up soon, ignored because of the vanity.

In his life, John Franklin's commander was a respected polar explorer, but in the novel of Dan Simmons, he is depicted in a non-smile man who keeps at a high position only at the expense of his old achievements.
He takes incorrect decisions, and at the time of the highest danger thinks only about what words will then tell about his wonderful salvation on some sort of dinner. It was his Dan Simmons who accuses "Erebus" and "Terror" stuck in the ice.

One incorrect decision of Franklin became the catalyst of all the troubles, which fell out the team of two ships. It, not a monster, was the cause of the death of the expedition. The creators of the series perfectly caught this thought. Therefore, the first series is concentrated on the decisions of John Franklin. Monster Tunbak is also present, but as long as he is only an ominous silhouette in the distance, noticed by one of the sailors.

In the novel of Dan Simmons, dozens of characters, and the events covered for several years. This is a huge cloth with a thousand of the smallest details. I am glad that the authors of the series decided not to follow the path of simplification.
The beginning of the series inspires the hope that we will receive an equally detailed picture of the death of Franklin's expedition than Simmons. It remains only to hope that the sense of measure will not change them and they will not turn the story about survival in Horror about people and Monster.

PS: In the third series of the series "Terror", we give us a hint that in the death of the expedition, the Russians played the main role. No, even Soviet falls!

In 1845, a team of 129 people went to explore the Arctic, but none of them returned alive. The names of the ships chosen, "terror" and "Erebus" (that is, "horror" and "darkness"), as it is impossible to describe the fate of the researchers. Northern ice fed the vessels and the next three years, the team was waiting for only diseases, madness and cannibalism. And recently, "Terror" was found, a ship that could reveal the secret of the disappearance and further of the fate of the expedition.

Not yet reached the destination, the expedition has already been doomed. A severe situation was aggravated by madness, rolling on the team due to poisoning. As a result, from 129 people there were nothing left, except for one random note, three mummified bodies and several skeletons in the found boat. In 2014, "Erebus" was discovered, but the ship was sank in an unsuccessful place and turned out to be broken by waves - it did not disclose any special secrets. The current find "Terror" turned out to be much more interesting, the ship was preserved much better: from guns, to plates and bottles of wine.

It was possible to find the ship not only thanks to the newest technique, but also the stories of Indians-Inuit. Among them are still terrible legends about the "dead man", which sits inside the ship and smiles. Apparently, we are talking about the mummified body of someone from the crew members. In addition, one of those who helped in search of local residents told that one day found nearby the alleged beam from Terror. He even managed to photographed with her, but lost the camera. Then I decided that this is the misty of evil spirits, and the ship is damned and therefore did not particularly apply to the find.

Even the place of the find is changing the idea of \u200b\u200bhow the last days of the expedition took place. And Terror and Erebus turned out to be almost a hundred kilometers south of the place where ice were fed. This means that the part of the team returned to them and was even able to free the ships, but then they were stuck again and this time already forever.