
Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt - jonah
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/12/hms-terror-wreck-found-arctic-nearly-170-years-northwest-passage-attempt
======
esaym
There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they
were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut
bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to
experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely
many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported.

[1][http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn](http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn)

~~~
edge17
In case anyone else was confused, those corpses retrieved and studied in the
above article were bodies buried from the same expedition, not bodies
recovered from the sunken ship. Thanks for sharing the clipping though, very
fascinating.

~~~
gerbilly
Yes the dug up bodies were from men who died during the expeditions first
season, which had actually gone pretty well.

Unfortunately, they anchored the ships for the winter, shortly after those men
died, in pretty much the worst place possible, on the western side of King
William's Island.[1]

This is a spot where all the pack ice from the north west flows to, forming a
huge towering jumble of ice. They fully expected their ships to be iced in for
the winter, this was normal.

They expected to get underway again once the ice cleared in the spring.

But the winter was exceptionally harsh and the ice so thick that they remained
trapped for much longer than they expected.

[1] Known as King Williams Land in those days, the remaining portion of the
northwest passage, ironically, was just to the south of where the doomed ships
were iced in. It would be John Rae
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rae_(explorer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rae_\(explorer\))
) who would truly discover the final link.

~~~
logicallee
this isn't related to anything, but out of personal curiosity can you tell me
whether you are a manager? (you can mail me at the link in my profile, if you
don't want to reply here for whatever reason). I'm just curious and have no
follow-up either way. thanks.

~~~
gerbilly
I am not a manager. Why do you ask?

~~~
logicallee
Thanks for the reply! I got downvotes before I removed the context, it doesn't
matter and I removed that part (but I don't want more downvotes so I don't
want to say, plus it doesn't matter.)

You can mail me if you want to know.

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ceejayoz
There's a fun Dan Simmons book "The Terror" that tells a (very) fictional
account of what happened to them.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_\(novel\))

~~~
ivanb
I concur that the book is indeed a very entertaining read. It describes the
ships (which btw were steam powered and had central heating) and the dreadful
conditions that the sailors faced in great detail. Dan Simmons is a good
storyteller.

~~~
astrodust
Sea travel in general was apocalyptically bad for sailors until about 1910. I
don't think people realize how dangerously shitty it was for people.

~~~
lostlogin
Reading about the ww2 Arctic convoys has the same feeling.

~~~
arethuza
I can recommend _Three Corvettes_ by Nicholas Monsarrat - the author of The
Cruel Sea - it is his account of his experiences at sea during WW2.

One of the few books that has moved me to tears.

------
mjklin
If only Stan Rogers had lived to see it...

"Ah for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage / to find the hand of
Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea..."

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage_(song)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage_\(song\))

~~~
johncalvinyoung
My father's comment, upon reading the article:

"And if they had a barge lent by a friend, they could tie their cables fore
and aft and gird her all around ... and hit the air and then take up the
strain ... etc."

------
JoeAltmaier
"If you could lift this boat out of the water, and pump the water out, it
would probably float.”

That is a fascinating possibility.

btw title should be amended "found by European explorers". Or change the date
to 162 years, since it was discovered by an Inuit gentleman six years earlier?

~~~
lisper
There is some precedent:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_\(ship\))

It is worth a trip to Stockholm to see the Vasa. The photos on Wikipedia do
not do her justice.

~~~
4ad
I can confirm this. It's one of the most impressive museums I've ever been to.

~~~
ptaipale
The whole thing is also a living example of lessons about project and product
management: how uncontrolled requirements made by the major stakeholder (in
this case, king Gustaf Adolf) changed the project scope (so many guns were
ordered to be fitted that the ship had to have two gun decks, with too high
center of gravity) which then caused a major technical disaster (it capsized
in wind). And then starts the hunt for a scapegoat.

------
jfb
The best part is that a local hunter found the boat six years ago. That's
awesome.

~~~
13of40
"Given the location of the find [in Terror Bay]"

I tried hunting around online to find out how Terror Bay got its name after I
saw this article on another site last night, but I couldn't find anything.
Makes you kind of wonder whether the location of the wreck was known at some
point, but nobody bothered to write it down.

~~~
tizzdogg
I wondered about the same thing. Weird it's not remarked on more in the
article.

~~~
Tiktaalik
The local Inuit have known that the ship was here for a very long time. The
nearby island is called "the big boat is here" or "the boat sank here" in
Inuit. lol.

[http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-
ed...](http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-
edition-1.3760173)

------
arethuza
A years back I became fascinated with 19th century Artic exploration through
reading Fergus Fleming's excellent book _Barrow 's Boys: A Stirring Story of
Daring, Fortitude, and Outright Lunacy_.

I was therefore rather surprised to find that one of the bodies from the
Franklin expedition, of Lieutenant John Irving, is buried not far from where I
live in central Edinburgh:

[http://edinburghwalks.com/2014/11/30/heroism-cannibalism-
and...](http://edinburghwalks.com/2014/11/30/heroism-cannibalism-and-the-
north-west-passage/)

~~~
dmix
Thanks for the link. I love reading books about early adventurers who first
explored our planet.

My favourite so far has been _Endurance: Shackleton 's Incredible Voyage_
about Shakleton's semi-doomed voyage to Antarctica where they survived an
entire winter after their boat got stranded in ice. Mostly by eating seals...
and their sled dogs at one point.

[https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-
Alfr...](https://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-
Lansing/dp/0465062881/)

~~~
jackfoxy
Or you can read _South_ , and read Shackleton's own words
[https://www.amazon.com/South-ENDURANCE-Expedition-Ernest-
Sha...](https://www.amazon.com/South-ENDURANCE-Expedition-Ernest-
Shackleton/dp/0451198808/)

~~~
lostlogin
Fantastic book and would be in the top reads I've ever had. Super cheap from
Penguin too.

------
etrevino
I've always suspected that tuberculosis played a large role in the demise of
the expedition. We're pretty sure that some crew members had it and in the
close quarters of the ships it's very likely to have spread unchecked.
Combined with the obvious lead poisoning and the possibility of scurvy the
expedition had very little chance of success.

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279489/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1279489/)

~~~
Implicated
What's the source/cause of the lead poisoning?

~~~
Xylakant
Canned food afaik. The seals contained lead back then.

~~~
etrevino
Right. The soldering used lead and was poorly done.

------
rualthan
Here's a documentary
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLqU8HP8r1o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLqU8HP8r1o)
[YouTube]

------
jsemrau
Imagine there would be a sole frozen survivor. No cars, no trains, no
airplanes, no phones, etc.

~~~
labster
Lord have mercy on the frozen man.

------
exabrial
Does it have a pair of glasses that are the key plot device in a Michael Bay
movie?

~~~
c0achmcguirk
Underrated comment.

------
felix_thursday
Isn't there a cruise ship trying to make the northwest passage next year?

~~~
sliverstorm
It's cleared dramatically as the Arctic sea ice is melting. The wiki has
satellite pics, it's pretty dramatic

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage)

~~~
paavokoya
Despite the obvious CO2/warming reasons, wouldn't these research
vessels/cruise ships cause more ice melt as well? (Breaking up the ice causing
faster melt)

~~~
roywiggins
The Arctic is pretty big and there aren't many research boats. There are only
a few dozen icebreakers in the world.

[https://news.usni.org/2013/07/23/u-s-coast-
guards-2013-reive...](https://news.usni.org/2013/07/23/u-s-coast-
guards-2013-reivew-of-major-ice-breakers-of-the-world)

------
polynomial
Good thing this won't be a problem anymore.

~~~
labster
Thanks to all of the hard work of the energy extraction industry, future
generations will never have to deal with the lack of a Northwest Passage. They
will, however, have to deal with a coral shortage.

~~~
nylsaar
So, how did this ship attempt to sail this route 168 years ago if there was no
energy extraction industry?

~~~
seren
They suspected there was a free water passage because the coast was well known
on both side. But the interior of the land was _terra incognita_ , and that
was the point of the expedition : finding the passage and going through it if
it existed.

However, when Roald Admunsden crossed for the first time the North West
passage a few years after the Franklin expedition was lost, it was not by
boat, but with sleds...

From my understanding, given the size of the Terror and Erebus, the Franklin
expedition could not have crossed the NW passage anyway at that time.

