Sir John Franklin, a man best-known for eating his own shows, set out in 1845 with 129 Englishmen aboard the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. Along with him were his deputy and second-in-command, Francis Crozier; and the captain of HMS Erebus, Sir James Fitzjames.
Both ships—the most advanced ships of their time, as legendary as the Titanic—and the 129 men were never heard from again.
They were never seen again.
Until 2014 and 2016. Yes, it was only four years ago that HMS Terror and Erebus were located—but what happened to the men?
There have been several attempts at an explanation. . .
Lead Poisoning
The most readily-accepted of all theories is the one about lead poisoning: back in 1845, many food packaging companies were still using lead as a substance for sealing food packages. Voyages like the Franklin Expedition were expected to be at sea for a long stretch of time—indeed, the ships were stocked with three years’ worth of food.
Many people have accepted that the sailors died because excessive and repetitive consumption of canned food might have led to lead poisoning. The flaw with this theory is that many other expeditions had lead-packaged food on board, and not all the expeditioners died.
A Possessed, Supermassive Polar Bear
This was the fictional idea adopted by historical writer Dan Simmons, and subsequently in the AMC show adaptation of the book. The show—with an all-star cast consisting Tobias Menzies, Jared Harris, Paul Ready, and Ciarán Hinds—explores the haunting expedition, the internal revolts and rebellions, the cannibalism, and . . . the polar bear.
Over the years, of course, people have touted the idea that the sailors—or at least, the survivors—were picked off by a polar bear. Polar bears are the largest and strongest land predators on Earth—with the strength to kill a person just by swinging a paw. They aren’t exactly Winnie the Pooh.
The idea that one such beast—that the book called a Tuunbaaq and that looked like a prehistoric cave bear on the show—could be possessed isn’t entirely new either. Tuunbaaq is a legend among eskimos—a beast that has its mind controlled by an unseen entity.
Cannibalism—Or Something Else?
Despite evidence being found of cannibalism, many British people, including Charles Dickens, refused to admit that such had happened. No Englishman, they believed, would do such a thing. Years later, Englishman Dennis Nilsen would prove them wrong by doing just that.
Even so, is it sane to accept that all 129 sailors—seasoned for sea voyages and the icy cold of the arctic—dies because they dined on each other? And why were the ships not found until very recently?
Could there have been some other, otherworldly power involved?
Discuss More about the Franklin Expedition
Here’s more on the Franklin Expedition and alien involvement, if you are interested in what the Creator has to say about it. If you want to discuss the Franklin Expedition in greater detail with like-minded hidden truth-seekers, join the Get Wisdom forum today.