Arctic Ghost Ship (2015)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arctic Ghost Ship is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in September 2015.

 

It is an episode in the long-running program NOVA which focuses on the history of science and technology (season 43, episode 2).

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Directed by Ben Finney

** Narrated by Richard Allinson

** Run time: 52 minutes

 

Arctic Ghost Ship is a film about the Franklin expedition which left England in 1845 on two ships, the Erebus and the Terror. The expedition is named after the man who was in charge: Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). The mission - to discover the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans - was never accomplished. The ships were locked in the ice, and all members of the expedition died.

 

PART ONE

Since then, several minor clues were found by different expeditions, but the ships themselves were never located. This film follows an expedition organised in 2014 by the underwater archaeology department of Parks Canada, which tried to locate the ships. 

 

The expedition used modern technology, including icebreakers and sonar equipment, to scan the sea bed. In addition, the members of the team studied Inuit accounts about the Franklin expedition which had been largely ignored or simply dismissed by earlier scholars.

 

Here are some of the clues:

 

** Three graves were discovered on Beechey Island in 1850. The graves contain the bodies of three crewmen who died in 1846, during the first winter of the expedition.

 

They are: petty officer John Torrington (1825-January 1846); royal marine private William Braine (1814-April 1846); and able seaman John Hartnell (1820-January 1846).

 

** In 1854 explorer John Rae (1813-1893) met with some Inuit who told him they had seen members of the Franklin expedition a few years before.

 

** In 1859 explorer Francis Leopold McClintock (1819-1907) discovered a note on King William Island. The note was placed in a metal tube which was placed in a cairn (a small tower of stones). The note contained two messages.

 

The first from 1847 stated that Franklin was the commander and that all was well. 

 

The second from 1948 (written in the margin of the first) was written by Francis Crozier, captain of the Terror, who stated that Franklin had died in 1847 and that the men were dying, although he did not know why. He added that the men would start walking south the next day, hoping to find help. 

 

They never made it. They did not know how to survive in the arctic.

 

** In 1869 explorer Charles Frances Hall (1821-1871) met with some Inuit who told him they had seen members of the Franklin expedition a few years before. The men were dragging a small boat with provisions.

 

** In 2014 helicopter pilot Andrew Stirling discovered an iron object on a small island south of King William Island. It was a U-shaped piece of metal that came from a ship. This discovery prompted the team to search the sea west of the spot where the iron object had been found.

 

PART TWO

Using a sonar which transmits an image of the seabed to a computer, the members of the team were scanning the area below and then, all of a sudden, they saw it. One of the two ships was there. The wreck was almost intact, standing upright on the bottom of the sea. 

 

Comparing the image with drawings of the two ships, it was determined that this was the Erebus. The date was 2 September 2014, an important date in the history of underwater archaeology.

 

Once the wreck was located, divers were sent down to take a closer look. They saw two cannons. They also saw the ship’s bell inscribed with the year 1845, the year when the expedition departed from England. 

 

The recovery of the bell was announced on Canadian television in November 2014.

 

While the Erebus had been discovered, there was still no trace of the Terror. According to Inuit accounts, one ship was crushed by the ice. If the story is true, this could explain why no trace of the Terror had been found.

 

Several witnesses are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants in alphabetical order:

 

** Marc-André Bernier, Parks Canada

** Ranulph Fiennes, arctic explorer

** John Geiger, Royal Canadian Geographical Society

** Ryan Harris, Parks Canada

** Louie Kamookak, Inuit historian

** Anne Keenleyside, Trent University

** Rosemarie Kuptana, former president, Inuit Tapirisat of Canada

** Andrew Lambert, King’s College, London

** Huw Lewis-Jones, arctic historian

** Stephanie Pfirman, Barnard College / Columbia University

** Dough Stenton, government of Nunavut

** Andrew Stirling, C. C. G. helicopter pilot

** Clare Warrior, National Maritime Museum, UK

 

CONCLUSION

Arctic Ghost Ship is an excellent film. The story of the Franklin expedition is tragic, but it deserves to be told, and it is told very well in this film, which can add a new and significant piece to the puzzle. The participants are well chosen. They offer useful contributions to the film.

 

If you are interested in the history of the modern world – in particular the history of modern explorations – then this film is definitely something for you.

 

PS # 1. For earlier reports on NOVA about the Franklin expedition, see the following items:

** Buried in Ice: The Franklin Expedition from 1988 (season 15 episode 3)

Arctic Passage, a two-part documentary from 2006 (season 33 episode 13).

 

PS # 2. For more information about the topic, see the following books:

 

** Fatal Passage by Ken McGoogan (2001) (2002)

** Captain Francis Crozier: Last Man Standing? by Michael Smith (2006) (2014)

** Franklin: Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation by Andrew Lambert (2009) (2010)

** Frozen in Time by John Geiger and Owen Beattie (1987) (2004) (2014)

** Franklin’s Lost Ship by John Geiger and Alanna Mitchell (2015)

** Sir John Franklin's Erebus and Terror Expedition: Lost and Found by Gillian Hutchinson (2017)

 

PS # 3. Passage is a documentary film (partly based on Ken McGoogan's book Fatal Passage) which premiered in 2008. Director: John Walker.

 

PS # 4. The second ship (the Terror) was located two years later, in 2016. The discovery is reported in The Guardian of 12 September 2016.

 

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Sir John Franklin

(1786-1847)

British naval officer

 

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