The Sir John Franklin Mystery

Transportation

Franklin's expedition passing through Point Lata on the ice Copyright/Source

Franklin served in many types of ships in his long career, including HMS Bellerophon, a sailing ship called a "man of war", which fought in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Her Majesty's discovery Ships Erebus and Terror were the two ships that Franklin used to try to find the Northwest Passagein 1845. These were sailing ships that had been fitted with steam engines.

Not only the Titanic had problems with ice!
The Erebus and Terror were equipped with the latest technology. They had reinforced hulls and sheet metal covering their bows, as well as special engines to help the propellers through the ice. There were enough provisions to last for five years. Since success was a sure thing, no plans for assistance or rescue were made in advance.

	Temperatures aboard ships in the Arctic could often fall to minus 40 degrees Celsius, sometimes minus 60 degrees Celsius. William Laird McKinlay, on a later Arctic expedition, described what it was like to sleep aboard a ship locked in the ice. "…When the cabin door was opened a blast of cold air rushed in, causing condensation which made the walls damp. At night-time the condensation froze, and we slept in a miniature ice palace, crystals sparkling in the light, gleaming icicles hanging from the deck above, some several inches long. All along the outer side of my bunk was a sheet of ice which melted when I got into bed, so that during the night the upper part of my blanket was sodden while the bottom half was like a small ice floe." McKinlay, William Laird. Karluk: The Great Untold Story of Arctic Exploration and Survival. London: Granada Pub., 1978, ©1976, p. 72.

A Floating Hotel
Both ships:
- had libraries totaling 3000 books, with volumes on many subjects
- were heated by hot water running in pipes under the floors of the berths
- held classes for the less educated crew members

	Two prophetic names for the doomed voyage: "Erebus" is the word for the dark region below Earth where the dead must pass to reach Hades. "Terror" means intense, overpowering fear.