Although these installations were cutting-edge technology for sailing ships at that time, they developed merely 25 and 20 horsepower respectively, insufficient to propel them through any thick ice. Sylvester’s system, an early form of central heating was installed, which distributed warm air from a brick furnace to heat below decks.įor emergency use, a steam locomotive with a specially adapted retractable propeller was installed in the after holds of each ship. To cope with glacial Arctic winter conditions, Mr. The ships’ bows were further strengthened with sheet iron for the hazardous journey through the Northwest Passage. The interiors of the two ships were also braced fore and aft with oak beams to resist and absorb shock from ice and triple strength canvas was fitted for the sails. Here they sailed further south into what became known as the Ross Sea, than any other ship had ever been or would venture for the next sixty years.įor the exploration of the Antarctic, the Admiralty dockyards had doubled the thickness of the ships’ decks with a layer of waterproof cloth being sandwiched between the old and new layers. These two ships proved their suitability for exploring the polar regions during a long exploration of the Antarctic during 1839-43, under command of Captain James Clark Ross.
Their strong decks and hulls were specially designed to withstand the recoil of the two big mortars, while drawing a draft of only eleven feet, which would allow traversing the narrow and shallow Arctic passages. They were not big vessels, Erebus was only 32 meters long, and Terror half a meter less, but they were sturdily built and broad in the beam, like Sumo wrestlers. Both were warships known as bomb vessels, mounting two large mortars weighing three tons each, to bombard coastal fortifications into submission. HMS Terror was commissioned in 1813 and HMS Erebus in 1826. Reluctant to appear alarmist, the Admiralty responded that since the expedition had sufficient food and provisions to last for at least three years, a relief expedition at that stage would be premature.
In Inuit folklore it is referred to as ‘the summers without sun’.īy June 1847, almost two years after the ships had disappeared into the Arctic, the first concerns were raised. Quite recently scientists determined that the Franklin era was climatically one of the least favourable periods in the last 700 years to have explored the Arctic, which explains the thick pack ice encountered by Franklin off the north-west coast of King William Island. Prior to departure Franklin received information from whalers that the previous winter in the Arctic had been exceptionally cold, but unable and unwilling to delay departure, he could only hope the following winters would be milder. Considered to be the best equipped Arctic expedition yet, it was inconceivable that it would fail in its given task.
During the previous quarter century much progress had been made in exploring the Polar passages connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and only about 100 kilometres of unknown channels needed to be explored to successfully complete the navigation of this Passage. Commanded by Sir John Franklin, a fifty-nine-year-old veteran of two previous arctic explorations, their objective was to find and navigate the elusive North West Passage. On 19 May of that year, two ships of the British Admiralty, HMS Erebus at 370 Imperial tons and HMS Terror at 340 tons, were slowly departing Greenhithe on the Thames, downstream from London.
#EREBUS WIKI FRANKLIN FULL#
But to follow the full story, we must return to 1845. This is the fate of the lost Franklin Expedition. In the desolate reaches of the Canadian Arctic Circle, a mystery that has long baffled archaeologists and historians alike, is slowly unravelling.
0 kommentar(er)
