John Rae had evidence that some men had turned to cannibalism, although the British refused to believe it at the time. It is likely that the men perished because of scurvy, lead poisoning, starvation, and extreme weather. In 1848, the crew abandoned the ships and attempted crossing the tundra by sledge. Piecing together the clues from various sources-notes, artefacts found on land, three bodies buried on Beechey island, accounts from Inuit in the region-we now know that Franklin’s ships became bound by ice in 1846 near King William Island. Explorer John Rae was the first to discover significant artefacts from Franklin’s expedition and to learn about the crew’s fate from the Inuit who lived in the area. Search expeditions were largely unsuccessful. Perhaps the most famous of all is that of Sir John Franklin, who set sail in 1845 with two very well-provisioned ships. The stories of the quest for a passage are riveting. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that someone made the complete passage Roald Amundson, in his ship Gjøa, navigated successfully using a route that took him through Rae Strait. Through my own reading and research, and by hearing from experts I travelled alongside with Adventure Canada, I have learned much about what is currently understood about the history of this region, particularly its infamous shipwrecks.įor centuries, explorers searched for a shipping route from Europe through the Arctic waters to Asia. `Michael Palin is a cracking good companion on this journey of ambition, longing, triumph and tragedy.I have long been interested in the compelling history of the Northwest Passage. the age of adventure lives on' - Alanna Mitchell, author of The Spinning Magnet: The Force that Created the Modern World and Could Destroy It `Michael Palin is a cracking good companion on this journey of ambition, longing, triumph and tragedy. simply terrific writing by Michael Palin.' - Roy MacGregor, author of Original Highways: Travelling the Great Rivers of Canada `What more could a reader ask for? Fascinating mystery, chilling adventure, compelling characters. Palin has given us a fascinating account of extraordinary courage' - Charlotte Gray, author of The Promise of Canada: People and Ideas that Shaped Our Country `One robust little tub of a boat, two death-defying voyages to the ends of the earth. The Erebus story is the Arctic epic we've all been waiting for.' - Nicholas Crane Vividly recounting the experiences of the men who first set foot on Antarctica's Victoria Land, and those who, just a few years later, froze to death one by one in the Arctic ice, beyond the reach of desperate rescue missions, Erebus is a wonderfully evocative account of a truly extraordinary adventure, brought to life by a master explorer and storyteller. The ship was filled with fascinating people: the dashing and popular James Clark Ross, who charted much of the `Great Southern Barrier' the troubled John Franklin, whose chequered career culminated in the Erebus's final, disastrous expedition and the eager Joseph Dalton Hooker, a brilliant naturalist - when he wasn't shooting the local wildlife dead. Michael Palin - Monty Python star and television globetrotter - brings the remarkable Erebus back to life, following it from its launch in 1826 to the epic voyages of discovery that led to glory in the Antarctic and to ultimate catastrophe in the Arctic. In 1848, it disappeared in the Arctic, its fate a mystery. HMS Erebus was one of the great exploring ships, a veteran of groundbreaking expeditions to the ends of the Earth.

Erebus ship