The 1845 Franklin expedition, which set out to discover the Northwest Passage, became one of the greatest maritime tragedies in history. The two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, along with 134 sailors, mysteriously vanished in the icy Arctic. For over 140 years, the fate of these men remained an unanswered question. However, the mummified bodies preserved in ice, like that of John Torrington, have revealed chilling stories of their demise, including starvation, lead poisoning, and ultimately, cannibalism in their final, desperate days.
The preserved body of John Torrington, one of the Franklin expedition mummies left behind after the crew was lost in the Canadian Arctic in 1845.
The story of John Torrington and the other bodies from the Franklin expedition begins with Sir John Franklin, an experienced Arctic explorer and Royal Navy officer. On May 19, 1845, Torrington and 133 others embarked on the Erebus and Terror from Greenhithe, England, equipped with state-of-the-art tools and three years’ worth of provisions, hoping to open a new route through the Arctic.
An engraving of the HMS Terror, one of the two ships lost during the Franklin expedition.
However, just months after leaving England, both ships disappeared in the icy waters of the Victoria Strait in Arctic Canada. In 1850, searchers discovered three graves on Beechey Island, one of which contained the body of Torrington, still preserved in the ice. Subsequent examinations revealed that the sailors had died from starvation, lead poisoning from poorly canned food, and, ultimately, resorted to cannibalism in their final moments of despair.
The frozen face of John Torrington peeks through the ice as researchers prepare to exhume the body some 140 years after he died during the Franklin expedition.
Though carefully buried, Torrington’s body was remarkably preserved by the ice. Researchers found that Torrington, who was only 20 years old at the time of his death, lay on a bed of wood chips, with his eyes still eerily open. His body showed severe signs of malnutrition, weighing just 88 pounds at the time of his death. Tissue and bone samples also revealed fatal levels of lead in his body, likely from the canned food that had affected all 129 men of the Franklin expedition.
The face of John Hartnell, one of the three Franklin expedition mummies exhumed during the 1986 mission to the Canadian Arctic.
Alongside Torrington, other bodies like that of John Hartnell were also exhumed and found to be so well-preserved that even features such as hair color and facial details remained intact. However, much about their final days remains unknown. The 1986 expedition, led by scientists like Owen Beattie, which exhumed these bodies, offered a brief glimpse into the horrifying world they experienced.
The preserved face of John Torrington some 140 years after he perished.
The fate of the Franklin expedition remains one of the greatest mysteries in maritime history. While the bodies of men like John Torrington have provided valuable clues, many questions remain unanswered, such as the exact causes of the ships’ sinking and why they were so far apart. Recent discoveries of the Erebus and Terror, along with modern technology, offer hope that one day we will gain a clearer understanding of this tragedy and finally answer the questions that have haunted researchers for over a century. Until then, the bodies like Torrington’s will continue to lie frozen in time, a painful testament to a doomed journey.
Found in the officers’ mess hall aboard the Terror, these glass bottles have remained in pristine condition for 174 years.