1 of 43

Franklin and Forensics: the Science of�Finding a Lost Expedition

Russell A. Potter, Ph.D., FRCGS

2 of 43

3 of 43

4 of 43

5 of 43

6 of 43

  • Three officers -- Franklin, Crozier, and Assistant Surgeon McDonald – had previous arctic service, along with each ship’s “Ice Master.”
  • The 129 men represented a broad cross-section of britain. The largest contingent – 16 men – were from kent. 11 were from scotland, and 9 were from northern counties; one was from Newfoundland.
  • The crew were young – setting aside the officers, the average age was 32; the youngest was 19 and the oldest – Franklin himself -- 59

7 of 43

8 of 43

9 of 43

10 of 43

11 of 43

12 of 43

13 of 43

2 slides on lead findings

14 of 43

15 of 43

16 of 43

17 of 43

18 of 43

19 of 43

20 of 43

21 of 43

22 of 43

23 of 43

24 of 43

25 of 43

26 of 43

27 of 43

28 of 43

29 of 43

30 of 43

Ng-Lj-2

31 of 43

32 of 43

33 of 43

34 of 43

35 of 43

36 of 43

37 of 43

38 of 43

39 of 43

40 of 43

41 of 43

42 of 43

A little way inland See-pun-ger & his uncle came to place where they found a skeleton of a Kob-lu-na, some parts of it having clothing on while other parts were without any it having been torn off by wolves or foxes. Near this skeleton they saw a stick standing erect which had been broken off - the part broken off lying close by. From the appearance both he & his uncle thought the stick, or rather small pillar or post, had been broken off by a Ni-noo (polar bear). On taking hold of that part of the wooden pillar wh. was erect they found it firmly fixed - could not move it a bit. But what attracted their attention the most on arriving at this pillar was a stone - or rather several large flat stones lying flat on the sandy ground & tight to-gether. After much labor one of these stones was loosened from its carefully fixed position & by great exertions of both nephew & uncle the stone was lifted up a little at one edge just sufficient that they could see that another tier of large flat stones firmly & tightly fitted together was underneath. This discouraged them in their purpose wh. was to remove the stones to see what had been buried there for they was [sic] quite sure that something valuable was underneath.

-- See-pun-ger’s testimony to Hall

43 of 43