31. Relics seen by the Anderson expedition of 1855 in Chantry Inlet.

A surprisingly large number of Franklin expedition remains were found by search expeditions in Chantry Inlet – the 110 mile long estuary of Back’s Great Fish River (Back, 1836).

On July 30th 1855, the Anderson expedition saw the first Franklin relics at the rapids below Lake Franklin on Back’s Great Fish River at three Inuit lodges.  Anderson wrote in his report (McClure, 1856, p. 319):

‘On the 30th, at the rapids below Lake Franklin, three Esquimaux lodges were seen on the opposite shore, and shortly after an elderly man crossed to us.   After the portage was made we crossed over, and immediately perceived various articles belonging to a boat, such as tent poles and kayak paddles made out of ash oars, pieces of mahogany, elm, oak, and pine; also copper and sheet iron boilers, tin soup tureens, pieces of instruments, a letter nip dated 1843, a broken hand saw, chisels &c. One man was left at the lodges; but the women, who were very intelligent, made us understand, by words and signs, that these articles came from a boat, and that the white men belonging to it had died of starvation’.

On Montreal Island the Anderson party found more Franklin items cached by the Inuit. Anderson wrote (McClure, 1856, p. 319):

‘There on a high ridge of rocks at the S.E. point of the island, a number of Esquimaux caches were found, and, besides seal oil, various articles were found belonging to a boat or ship, such as chain hooks, chisels, blacksmith’s shovel and cold chisel, tin oval boiler, a bar of unwrought iron about three feet long, one and a half inch broad, and a quarter of an inch thick; small pieces of rope, bunting, and a number of sticks strung together, on one of which was cut ‘Mr. Stanley’ (surgeon of Erebus – the sticks were snowshoes). A little lower down was a large quantity of chips, shavings, and ends of planks of pine, elm, ash, oak, and mahogany, evidently sawn by unskilful hands; every chip was turned over, and on one of them was found the word ‘Terror’ carved. It was evident that this was the spot where the boat was cut up by the Esquimaux; but not even a scrap of paper could be discovered, and though rewards were offered, and the most minute search made over the whole island, not a vestige of the remains of our unfortunate countrymen could be discovered’.

The search party then continued to Point Ogle, where a search revealed only a short length of cod line and a strip of cotton, also in an Inuit cache. From there Anderson sent four men by Halkett boat to search Maconochie Island. It was only 35 years later that it was learned that one of these men (Paul Papanakies) had sighted two masts in the distance far out in the ice. He did not report it however because he was afraid Anderson would insist on visiting the place in the fragile canoes and that it would slow their return trip (Woodman, 1991, p. 279). On 8th August (with the canoes in a battered condition), they began retracing their way back, the trip having achieved its objective of showing that the river reported by Dr. Rae was Back’s Great Fish River. The complete absence of any bones or human remains strongly suggests that the reported Franklin relics were most likely obtained by the Inuit from the upturned boat at what Schwatka would name as Starvation Cove. There a Franklin boat party had mistaken a long blind inlet for Chantrey Inlet – the estuary of Back’s Great Fish River. However, the cod line and cotton strip and the isolated skeleton, suggest that some of the survivors of Starvation Cove walked east to the estuary of the Great Fish River and may have fished using cod line with cotton strips for lures.

In 1859 McClintock also searched Montreal Island and found only a single cache with a piece of preserved meat tin, pieces of iron hoop, some scraps of copper and an iron hook bolt.

These relics were most likely brought almost as far as Chantrey Inlet by the boat party of the 1850 retreat. The boat with about ten immobile sick men was left at what the Schwatka expedition later called ‘Starvation Cove’. One seaman walked on for a few miles and his unburied remains were found by the Inuit and the Schwatka expedition. The large wooden sledge that carried the boat was never found. It most likely was cut up on Montreal Island, probably by Inuit. However searches of the area by McClintock, Anderson and Hall did not find any evidence of bones. So the favoured interpretation is that the Inuit transported these relics from Starvation Cove. So let us look at the items hauled by dying men in a boat on a sledge and salvaged by the Inui, then seen by Anderson in 1855. What story do they tell? The items had been with the Inuit for 5 years when they were seen by the Anderson party.

1) Kayak Paddles made from ash oars.

Similar paddles were found by McClintock in the Erebus pinnace in Erebus Bay in 1869. They were part of the work carried out to lighten the boats and made them suitable for ascending a river. The work involved providing paddles for 24 men, lightening the boat by planing down the stem and stern posts, replacing the upper 5 planks on either side of the boat with thinner lighter wood and removing the rudder. As many metal fittings as possible were removed such as metal boat knees. Some of this work was carried out at the shore camp at Crozier’s Landing, because Inspector Larsen found two boat knees there in 1949.

Two boats of the 1848 retreat were found in Erebus Bay. What was probably a boat sledge appears to have been cut up in Douglas Bay. Two boats from the 1848 retreat are unaccounted for. Roobol (2019) has suggested that the boat used for the 1850 retreat and left on the Adelaide Peninsula at what the Schwatka expedition called ‘Starvation Cove’ was probably a boat left at Terror Bay by the 1848 retreat as much work had been carried out to lighten it. This boat would have been the source of the items seen by the Anderson expedition.

2) Dr. Stanley’s snowshoes.

Dr. Stanley was Stephen Samuel Stanley surgeon aboard HMS Erebus. His assistant surgeon was Harry D. S. Goodsir. The presence of Stanley’s snowshoes hints at his presence with the boat at Starvation Cove. The 1850 retreat encountered four Inuit families in Washington Bay and the testimonies of this meeting mention a man as ‘Docktook’ or Doctor.  Inuit testimony describes some of the bodies beneath the overturned boat at Starvation Cove as having their hands amputated.  This may have been the work of Surgeon Stanley amputating severely frost bitten hands to save lives.

3) Copper, sheet iron, tin boilers and tin soup tureens.

The boilers had been made aboard the ships for the sledging parties to                            melt drinking water and to cook their meals. The tin soup tureens were usually    cut-down-empty tins from the tinned food stores with which the ships were supplied.

4) Tent Poles.

The testimony of the 1850 meeting of the retreat with four Inuit families gave detailed descriptions of how the men travelled and camped. The boat was hauled on a sledge with a sail up if winds were favourable, and followed the smoother shore ice. At night a camp would be set up with the boat on the sledge on the ice and a tent or tents nearby on ice-free  ground as the men did not carry heavy insulated blankets to lie on. Many men slept in the boat under the canvas sail.

5) Blacksmith’s Tools (a blacksmith’s shovel, a cold chisel and  a bar of unwrought iron about 3 feet long 1.5 inches broad and 0.25 inch thick and   chain hooks).

These items indicate the presence of a blacksmith in the retreating crew. The wrought iron bar is excessive for a simple overland retreat. The cold chisel would have been used for cutting into hard materials like rock or metal. On Beechey Island a stone anvil was found. The blacksmith aboard Erebus was William Smith and aboard Terror was Samuel Honey.

6) Carpenter’s tools (a broken hand saw, chisels).

The retreat probably included at least a carpenter. Erebus had as carpenter Warrant Officer John Weekes and carpenter’s mate Petty Officer Thomas Watson.  Terror had carpenter Warrant Officer Thomas Honey and carpenter’s mate Petty Officer Alexander Wilson. Anderson’s description of the wood cut offs on Montreal Island suggests ‘unskillful’ hands rather than those of trained carpenters.

7) Wood (pieces of mahogany, elm, oak, and pine).

On Montreal Island  wood chips and shavings with the ends of planks of pine, elm, ash, oak and mahogany, and a piece of wood with ‘Terror’ carved into it) were found. The location of the boat at Starvation Cove was unknown to Anderson. Its sledge was never found. It is possible that the wood shavings and plank ends found on Montreal Island are where the sledge was taken and cut up by the Inuit. Sherard Osborn has speculated (McClure, 1856, p. 327) that the evidence of carpenter’s tools, including a broken saw and planks suggests that the boat party waited on Montreal Island for the ice to melt and open the river. During this time they broke up their boat and with some of the planks carried, built a canoe. How far a small party ascended Back’s Great Fish River is unknown, but if they carried Sir George Back’s chart and followed his track, their route would not always be that followed by the Anderson search party that deviated considerably. However this is not a very likely possibility because the boats had already been lightened and converted for use with paddles in order to ascend a river before the retreat began.

8) A letter nip dated 1843 and the leather lining of a backgammon board.

James Anderson wrote to Lady Jane Franklin describing the relics his expedition had found. He described a letter-nip dated 1843 and the leather lining of a backgammon board. Lady Jane remembered placing both items aboard Erebus herself. Anderson also reported that there were no papers probably because the Inuit knew that ‘paper speaks to the white man’ and had destroyed any records found.

9) Pieces of instruments.

When the Inuit found western instruments and even guns they were often unfamiliar with their use and broke them up into small pieces to use the metal in harpoons and for knife blades. Sometimes they gave items to their children to play with. So later explorers bought pieces of guns, watches, sextants, dip circles, and chronometers from the Inuit.

10) Bunting and small pieces of rope.

These are common items in a boat used for signalling, identifying wind          d        direction and for lashing equipment down.

11) A short length of cod line with a strip of cotton.

One of the reasons Captain Crozier chose to retreat south was because of reports from George Back’s 1834 exploration of Backs Great Fish River and Chantry Inlet. Back had reported that the Inuit gather much fish in Chantry Inlet and that he had purchased a ton of fish from them for a  single knife. Evidently the men were hoping to feast on fish in Chantrey Inlet. Regrettably the position of the boat at Starvation Cove shows that they mistook a deep blind inlet in the coast for Chantrey Inlet and left the boat and ten men there.

The above data contains some clues to what might be an unknown thread of the story of the 1850 Franklin retreat.  It has been suggested that most of the men in the 1850 retreat were from HMS Terror and had been held together by the leadership of Captain Crozier. His death and military burial along with the paper records of the expedition provided a last chance for the Terror crew.  A core of Erebus men probably remained behind on their ship along with Captain Fitzjames who was still determined to sail through to the open water channel along the coast of the North American continent. The Terror men with some Erebus men determine to set out on a fairly hopeless march in their weakened state in the hope that a few might survive. Inuit testimony suggests that the 1850 retreat split into three parts.  One group, hauling the wooden boat, crossed over to the Adelaide Peninsula. A second group chose to go out to the Todd Islets and die in sight of North America.  A third small group chose to continue along the south of King William Island but to survive by eating their dead.

The Anderson party observations throw light on the action of the group that crossed over to the Adelaide Peninsula taking a wooden boat with them.  The boat was found by the Inuit at what Schwarka later called ‘Starvation Cove’.  It had been turned over and there were six men well wrapped under the boat some without hands. The letter nip and backgammon board found by the Anderson party were brought from Erebus suggesting that an officer leading the group might have been from Erebus. The snowshoes from Dr. Stephen Samuel Stanley’s give a possible indication of the identity of this officer. This party had travelled about 90 miles or 145 km from the Imnguyaaluk/Terror Bay area wearing Naval uniforms and leather shoes.  They would have suffered extreme frostbite.  The missing hands may have been removed by Surgeon Stanley after the men contracted severe frostbite, in an effort to keep them alive. No information is available about the state of their feet.  The other two parties were led by officers of HMS Terror whose possible identities have also been suggested by Roobol (2019).