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In 1845 Sir John Franklin set out from England with two Royal Navy ships to complete the Northwest Passage, the Arctic sea route north of Canada. The ships were trapped in ice, and all 129 men died. The wrecks of Erebus and Terror were finally found in 2014 and 2016, where Inuit oral history had long placed them.

Nunavut, Canada, 2014–2016

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The story behind the card

The ships became locked in ice off King William Island in September 1846, and Franklin died there in June 1847. A note later found in a stone cairn records that in April 1848 the 105 surviving men abandoned the ships and set off south on foot; none reached safety. In 1854 the explorer John Rae brought back Inuit accounts of dying men, but in Britain they were widely dismissed. Inuit families went on passing down what their elders had seen. The Inuit historian Louie Kamookak spent decades gathering these stories, and a memory shared by Inuk crew member Sammy Kogvik led searchers to Terror in Terror Bay. Both wrecks are now a National Historic Site that Parks Canada manages jointly with Inuit.

Türkçe oku
Sir John Franklin 1845'te, Kanada'nın kuzeyinden geçen Kuzeybatı Geçidi'ni tamamlamak için iki Kraliyet Donanması gemisiyle İngiltere'den yola çıktı. Gemiler buzlara sıkıştı ve 129 kişinin hepsi öldü. Erebus ile Terror'un batıkları ancak 2014'te ve 2016'da, Inuitlerin kuşaklardır anlattığı yerlerde bulundu.
Nunavut, Kanada, 2014–2016

Gemiler Eylül 1846'da King William Adası açıklarında buzlara kapandı; Franklin Haziran 1847'de orada öldü. Sonradan bir taş yığınının içinde bulunan bir not, Nisan 1848'de hayatta kalan 105 kişinin gemileri bırakıp yaya olarak güneye yöneldiğini anlatır; hiçbiri kurtuluşa ulaşamadı. Kâşif John Rae 1854'te Inuitlerin can çekişen adamlar hakkındaki anlatılarını İngiltere'ye taşıdı, ama bu anlatılar orada büyük ölçüde ciddiye alınmadı. Inuit aileleri ise büyüklerinin gördüklerini kuşaktan kuşağa aktarmayı sürdürdü. Inuit tarihçi Louie Kamookak bu anlatıları on yıllarca derledi; Terror'u Terror Körfezi'nde bulduran da mürettebattaki Inuit Sammy Kogvik'in paylaştığı bir anı oldu. İki batık bugün, Parks Canada'nın Inuitlerle birlikte yönettiği bir ulusal tarihî alan.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Franklin's lost expedition
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