Frozen In Time: The Fate Of The Franklin Expedition (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Non-Fiction. The Franklin Expedition left England in 1845, made a stop in Greenland, met up with some whalers by an iceberg, and then disappeared into the Canadian Arctic forever, leaving behind two message cylinders, hundreds of tin cans, and three marked graves.I recently read Dan Simmons' The Terror, a fictional account of the Franklin expedition, and became fascinated by the subject. I wanted to learn more about the history of the expedition so I wouldn't leave the topic under the mistaken impression that Sir John Franklin was devoured by a demonic polar bear. This was one of the books Simmons used for his research. The first part is like a delicious murder mystery, where you only have four clues to figure out who killed the 129 men aboard the HMSs Erebus and Terror. The feeling is heightened if you've read Simmons' book because you recognize all the tiny details he wove into his giant story. I found it very satisfying to know that he used as much information as we have, I mean, apart from the enormous polar bear. But you could even see where that came from! Beattie and Geiger repeatedly remark how odd it was that so many officers died so early in the expedition, and this, from Commander Inglefield's journal during a search expedition on Beechey Island in 1852: The last resting place of three of Franklin's people was closely examined; but nothing that had not hitherto been observed could we detect. My companion told me that a huge bear was seen continually sitting on one of the graves, keeping a silent vigil over the dead.Giant polar bear!The second half of the book is dedicated to exhuming the three sailors buried at Beechey Island and examining their bodies for clues to their demise, and for insight into the unprecedented and catastrophic failure of the entire expedition. Beattie and his team find compelling evidence that not only did Franklin's people have hypothermia and scurvy to contend with, but the tinned food they depended on was contaminated by the lead used to solder the cans shut. It's possible that lead poisoning was a major factor in the expedition's doomination. P.S. I lost track of how many times this book used the word DOOMED.This is a good look at what little we know of what happened to the Franklin Expedition, presented in a straightforward way, and makes an excellent companion to Simmons' book. Highly recommended to people who enjoyed, or were even mildly interested in, The Terror. I have a much greater appreciation for it now that I've read this.Four stars. It sticks to the facts, introduces some new theories, and only occasionally paints the ridiculous word picture based on nothing but conjecture. Has color plates, black and white illustrations, lists of officers and crew from both ships, a timeline of major search expeditions, bibliography, and index, but needed more commas.
The Franklin expedition was not alone in suffering early and unexplained deaths. Indeed, both Back (1837) and Ross (1849) suffered early onset of unaccountable "debility" aboard ship and Ross suffered greater fatalities during his single winter in the Arctic than did Franklin during his first. Both expeditions were forced to retreat because of the rapacious illness that stalked their ships. Frozen in Time makes the case that this illness (starting with the Back expedition) was due to the crews' overwhelming reliance on a new technology, namely tinned foods. This not only exposed the seamen to lead, an insidious poison - as has been demonstrated in Franklin's case by Dr. Beattie's research - but it also left them vulnerable to scurvy, the ancient scourge of seafarers which had been thought to have been largely cured in the early years of the nineteenth century. Fully revised, Frozen in Time will update the research outlined in the original edition, and will introduce independent confirmation of Dr. Beattie's lead hypothesis, along with corroboration of his discovery of physical evidence for both scurvy and cannibalism. In addition, the book includes a new introduction written by Margaret Atwood, who has long been fascinated by the role of the Franklin Expedition in Canada's literary conscience, and has made a pilgrimage to the site of the Franklin Expedition graves on Beechey Island.Came to this book via Dan Simmons The Terror and not only was it excellent in its own right but it confirmed the depths of Simmons research – he virtually used every single fact that is known about the Franklin Expedition. As Punk's review notes - right down to the polar bear …!"The last resting place of three of Franklin's people was closely examined; but nothing that had not hitherto been observed could we detect. My companion told me that a huge bear was seen continually sitting on one of the graves, keeping a silent vigil over the dead." Frozen in Time is a book of two halves: first part follows the history of the search for the North West Passage and the second is a masterpiece of forensic anthropology whose conclusion is shocking. The Franklin Expedition was even more tragic than historians first realised; the food that was keeping them alive was slowly killing them. Eventually their ships frozen in place they took to the ice in desperation, hopeless and helpless,eventually giving up hope of ever being rescued and in the end reduced to cannibalising their dead comrades.I found this a profoundly moving book; unbearably poignant as the scientist and the reader come face to face, literally, with John Torrington, John Hartnell and William Braine who died terrible lingering deaths 138 years ago.
What do You think about Frozen In Time: The Fate Of The Franklin Expedition (2004)?
I breezed through this one after stumbling across a YouTube video about this expedition. This whole "explore the arctic thing", was flat out whacked. To spend time on a ship in the dead cold, with barely anything to eat and no guarantee that you will ever get out of there, seems nuts. But most pioneers in anything were a little.This book was awesome to me for many different reasons. It literally puts you into the desolation that is the arctic. The descriptions are so complete, that this book made me feel freezing cold. The remains of 3 sailors that died early on was tragic enough. However, the 138 year old preserved remains were just too fascinating to leave alone. There is some excellent background on the hoops that the Canadian government required before they could travel all that way to chip these dudes out of the ice. What an amazing chance to peak into the past. These poor sailors never knew that what was killing them slowly was not just the cold, but lead in their food as well. A solid and fascinating story.
—Jason
I love stories about expeditions that end in mystery/disaster, particularly if they take place at sea in the 19th century, so obviously this tale was right up my alley. The writing got a bit dry and technical for my liking when the focus was on the 1980s exhumation work, but the earlier portion about the Franklin expedition itself was great.This book introduced me to historical hottie James Clark Ross, the dreamiest man in the Royal Navy.I really am wary of eating tinned food now, even though I know science has advanced considerably since 1846.Antiscorbutic is my new favorite word and I want to use it all the time, even though it's incredibly specific and wouldn't come up much in conversation.
—Amy
Highly recommend to anyone interested in the history of polar expeditions, the search for the northwest passage and even medical history. A very thorough account of what doomed the Franklin Expedition.Pieces together what most likely happened by using available forensic and anthropological evidence, along with historical documents from initial rescue attempts/investigations and first-hand Inuit accounts (seeing emaciated white sailors wandering aimlessly across the Arctic ice, mouths black and dry with scurvy, having resorted to cannibalism etc...) What stands out the most are the autopsies performed on three sailors who died early in the expedition. Since they were given proper burials, their bodies preserved remarkably well in the permafrost, resulting in a unique physiological glimpse into the early-mid 1800s and some of the factors that contributed to the eventual demise of the expedition and their crew-mates.
—Don
