Abstract
In May 1845, John Franklin and his crew left London in the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. The goal was to find the Northwest Passage once and for all. Given the many less than successful previous attempts at this venture, extensive measures were taken to ensure that this expedition would be different, including further strengthening of the ships, and a storage with plenty of tinned food supplies. As is well known, these efforts were to no avail and the expedition, totalling 129 men, disappeared in the Arctic. The disappearance of Franklin’s expedition generated a huge amount of publicity at the time, an interest that has been sustained to the present day. Franklin’s last expedition and its many rescue missions seem to offer an enduring resource for scholarly and non-academic works. This interest was substantially boosted with the discovery of the wrecks of Erebus in 2014 and Terror in 2016.
Although they are still submerged in the ice, the wrecks have started to answer some of the many questions surrounding the fate of Franklin’s last expedition. The exhibition ‘Death in the Ice: The Shocking Story of Franklin’s Expedition’ shown at the National Maritime Museum in London from July 2017 to January 2018, displayed some of the material recently recovered from the wrecks, together with an array of objects associated with the expedition. The book at hand, Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition: Lost and Found by Gillian Hutchinson, brings the exhibition into print. Divided into 10 beautifully illustrated chapters, the book begins with a brief history of the search for the Northwest Passage. The introductory chapter usefully illustrates the routes taken by selected explorers in search of the Northwest Passage, with the routes drawn onto photographs of a globe. However, readers with even the most basic familiarity with the history of Arctic exploration will find nothing new here. A biographical chapter follows, which focuses on John Franklin, including the details of his previous exploratory missions to the Arctic and elsewhere. Chapter Three is also a biographical chapter of sorts, focusing on the Erebus and Terror, where Hutchinson nicely shows the efforts put into selecting and improving the two ships. Both vessels were tried and tested, and several crewmembers had travelled onboard them in the past. The crewmembers are the focus of Chapters four and five, which provide a lovely account of some of the lesser-known members of the expedition, and life onboard the ships. We also learn that a daguerreotype photographer visited the Erebus and took portraits of the officers on site, and these images are included in the book. Given how most accounts of Franklin’s last expedition usually focuses heavily on Franklin, it is a refreshing change to have these images that are accompanied by descriptions of the other expedition members. We also see images of household objects such as cutlery, a food tin, and needles, as well as scientific objects like a dip circle, which was abandoned on King William Island.
The remainder of the book is concerned with the many search missions, from the early efforts of John Richardson and John Rae, to contemporary ones. The chapters give a good sense of the spectacle caused by the disappearance of the expedition, splendidly illustrated by a reproduction of pottery figurines of John and Jane Franklin – souvenirs from a tragedy. Yet, readers looking for a critical evaluation of the material culture relating to maritime exploration will not find it in Hutchinson’s book. Why are we interested in seeing everyday objects like cutlery, a rusty tin, and a violin? Is it simply because they belonged to the Franklin expedition? What is it about the Franklin expedition, both in the nineteenth century and today, that is seemingly different from other expeditions and their wrecked ships? How were the objects selected for the exhibition ‘Death in the Ice’ and for Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition? These are all questions that are generated from reading the book, but left largely unanswered. It also seems a missed opportunity that Hutchinson does not engage with the significance of the Franklin expedition for contemporary discussions over sovereignty in the Arctic, including who owns the recovered objects. This matter could have been addressed in the last chapter, which is otherwise a real treasure that describes and illustrates the discovery and excavation of the Erebus and Terror. Those issues aside, this is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in Arctic exploration. Sir John Franklin’s Erebus and Terror Expedition is a visually stunning book, with many high-quality images that will be of great value to anyone interested in the material culture of Arctic exploration but were unable to visit the exhibition in London.