The Sir John Franklin Mystery

Early Explorations
1819 - 1827

Franklin was given command of an expedition from Fort York in 1819. They reached the Arctic coast in 1821 after many problems. The return journey was even more difficult. Nine men died of starvation or cold, and another was killed because the others believed he was a cannibal. A group of Native people found them and saved them.

Franklin mapped over 800 kilometers of unknown territory during his Arctic expedition Copyright/Source

Franklin went on another expedition to the Arctic in 1825. This time it was a success: they mapped over 500 miles of unknown territory. He was knighted in 1829.

A Hero - Twice Over
George Back, seaman, explorer and artist, joined Frankin as a junior officer. Falling short of provisions, Back snowshoed more than 1600 kilometers to Fort Chipewyan for supples. The round trip took five months.

After charting the Arctic shoreline, they once again had nothing to eat. Again Back set out. A month later he found a camp of Copper Indians. Chief Akaitcho led the rescue party.

	Chief Akaitcho (Big Foot) guided Franklin's party to Fort Providence once the starving men had recovered. When he found that his payment had not arrived he said: "The world goes badly; all are poor, you are poor, the traders appear to be poor, I and my party are poor likewise; and since the goods have not come in, we cannot have them. I do not regret having supplied you with provisions, for a Copper Indian can never permit white men to suffer from want of food on his lands, without flying to their aid." Struzik, Ed. Northwest Passage: The Quest for an Arctic Route to the East. Toronto: Key Porter Books, ©1991, p. 68.

	On Franklin's first overland expedition, the men were cold and starving. They ate lichen scraped off rocks and finally resorted to eating strips of leather from their boots! Even with such delicacies, half the crew died.

Rock with lichen, Northwest Territories Copyright/Source