24. The 1850 death march.

The remanned and released Erebus was worked around the coast of King William Island and through the Alexandra Passage, west of Cape Crozier to spend one or two years in the Terror Bay – Imnguyaaluk Island area (the latter in the Royal Geographical Society Islands). Inuit testimony describes a military funeral possibly in 1850, interpreted by Captain David Woodman (1995) as probably that of Captain Crozier. This would have been a major blow particularly to his surviving crew now aboard the remanned Erebus.

Probably because of the death of Captain Crozier, most of the remaining men, and in particular the Terror men, made a major decision to make one last attempt to march out of the ice trap. But this time their objective was to be I-wil-ik or Repulse Bay some 300 miles away. However unlike the 1848 retreat this time here was little hope of success. The men had been on a starvation diet for two years and were weak before they started. There was little food to take with them and they had to rely on hunting and fishing, which had failed during the 1848 retreat. The 1850 retreat left only a trail of graves on King William Island and unburied bodies on the Adelaide Peninsula of the American continent.

From Inuit descriptions of the famous encounter with this retreat in Washington Bay in 1850, it seems this retreat was led by the senior surviving Terror officers.  These were Ice Master Thomas Blanky (Too-loo-ark), Royal Marine Sergeant Solomon Tozer (Aglooka), an unidentified officer (possibly from Erebus) and Assistant Surgeon Alexander Macdonald (‘Natar’) of Terror. Another Erebus crewman was present as the Inuit named ‘Ill-kern’ who was probably Royal Marine Private William Pilkington of Erebus.

One officer, probably Captain Fitzjames, with a small crew is believed to have remained aboard Erebus still hoping to escape with the ship. Later in 1850 or still later they sailed her south to Wilmot and Crampton Bay.  The senior officer is believed to have died on route or on arrival and his body was placed in the great cabin. The ship was then abandoned near O’Reilly Island, where she drifted ashore and was heavily salvaged by the Inuit over at least eight years.

The 1850 retreat is believed to have started from either Terror Bay or Imnguyaaluk Island. Its route is marked by a trail of shallow graves, skeletal remains and relics including one boat on the Adelaide Peninsula of the mainland at a place named ‘Starvation Cove’ by the Schwatka expedition. The health of the men at this time was poor. They had been on a starvation diet for at least two years and the lime juice antiscorbutic had run out two years before. The men were weak and Inuit described them as thin and some had hard dry blackened gums –signs of scurvy. Their weakness is recoded in the manner of how they treated those who died on route. Those who retreated onto the Adelaide Peninsula did not bury their dead. Those who retreated along the coast of King William Island buried their dead, but by laying them on the ground and covering them with small stones and not using larger stones lying nearby.

The retreat had proceeded for only about 40 km, when the famous encounter with four Inuit families occurred in Washington Bay. No doubt such an encounter had been hoped for as a means of trading for meat. However this meeting must have been a disappointment. At the meeting in Washington Bay the retreat of about 40 men was being led by Aglooka who was accompanied probably by Erebus Royal Marine private William Pilkington. Aglooka had a scar across the indent of his nose possibly incurred in a fight with Indians and wore a reddish-brown beard (possibly Terror’s Marine Sergeant Solomon Tozer). Another senior man – Too-loo-a – stood erect and so strait that he was a little bent back. He was tall and strongly built. He was older and his hair and black beard was flecked with grey. His body was later recognised by the grey hair and whiskers as one of a group of five bodies on one of the Todd Islets ( possibly Terror Ice Master Thomas Blanky). The doctor or ‘Doctuk’ (possibly Terror’s Assistant Surgeon Alexander Macdonald) was thick set and wore spectacles but not snow goggles (Klutschak (1987).  Aglooka was desperate for food for his men and opened all the baggage of the Inuit to take out meat. This was loaded onto a dog and taken to the Franklin party. Meanwhile the latter had built a camp, a salmon had been caught and there were birds hanging from the gunwale of the boat. Next morning the Inuit slipped away despite an appeal from Aglooka.

The failure to trade for significant amounts of meat with the Inuit would have been a major blow to the retreating men. The outcome was a decision taken to divide into two parties and follow different routes. This would increase the chances of their own hunting and of meeting more Inuit for further trade. The party divided into two. The half that retained the boat on the sledge crossed Simpson Strait where it is narrowest (only two miles wide) – a place known as Malerualik. Here, when the caribou crossed over, they were hunted by the Inuit. The boat party was led by an unknown officer and proceeded southeast along the shoreline of the Adelaide Peninsula which is a part of the American continent.

The boat party had only travelled about 20km and arrived at a place called Tikeroniyou or Crooked Finger on the Adelaide Peninsula (Stenton, 2018, site 28), when three men died. Their remains, along with an ivory button and a George IV half crown were found there by Learmouth in 1936 (Learmouth, 1948).  Only a few kilometres along the coast at Thunder Cove (Stenton, 2018, site 29) another man died.  In 1926, a skull, some navy cloth, shoe leather and some oak were found by trader Peter Norberg.  The party again travelled only a few kilometres to camp amongst some islets, where the Inuit later found seven skeletons wearing boots with screws through the soles. The reduced party then travelled another ten kilometers to arrive at a place later named ‘Starvation Cove’ by the 1869 Schwatka expedition (Stenton, 2018, site 31). About ten bodies were found there mainly sheltering under an overturned boat. Finally the skeleton and clothing of a single crewman, not an officer was found a few kilometers south of Starvation Cove by the Schwatka expedition (Stenton 2018, site 32).

Information about an overturned boat at Starvation Cove (named by the Schwatka expedition) with bodies wrapped up under it, was first given by In-nook-poo-zhe-jook to Dr Rae and at a later time repeated to Charles Francis Hall. An Inuit lady called Eveeshuk also told  Hall that one of the bodies had the hands sawn off at the wrist. The testimony was also collected by the Schwatka expedition.  Some reports stated that several of the bodies had the hands sawn off at the wrist. It may be that the Doctor (Assistant Surgeon Alexander Macdonald – identified from his snow shoes) had kept the men with severe frost bite alive by amputating their hands. The fate of the survivors who had overturned the heavy boat to provide shelter for their sick colleages is unknown,

The Anderson 1855 search of Back’s Great Fish River and Chantrey Inlet produced Franklin relics from Erebus, but no human remains. One was part of a snowshoe with ‘Mr. Stanley’ marked on it. In addition there was a letter nip dated 1843 and the leather back of a backgammon board. The latter two had been placed aboard Erebus by Lady Jane Franklin. This is a hint that the officer leading the boat party might have been an Erebus officer. If so this may have contributed to the decision to split the 1850 retreat into two parts. The other half appears to have been led by two Terror officers possibly Ice Master Thomas Blanky and Marine Sergeant Solomon Tozer.

Meanwhile back on King William Island, the other party of men followed the coast. They would have had small sledges and carried with them the inflatable Halkett boat. As they proceeded along the coast men died and were buried in shallow graves. As a measure of their weakness the bodies were laid on the ground and covered with small stone. Larger stones nearby were not used. Such graves were found at Washington Bay, McClintock Bay, Gladman Point, near the Peffer River, near Booth Point and near the Todd Islets.

Opposite the Todd Islets a crisis occurred probably because they had run out of food.  A fourth major decision was taken and the survivors split into two groups. One group led by Aglooka decided to proceed along the coast of King William Island by eating the dead.  The other group led by Too-loo-ah refused and decided to walk out to the Todd Islets, where they could look across at the American continent and die there.

Some time later Aglooka with three men was approaching the Boothian Peninsula. They met and were befriended by Too-shoo-ar-thar-i-u.  Ook-bar-loo’s testimony about the arrival of Aglooka and companions in the east (Hall December 7th 1864, in Nourse, 1879, p.591) follows:

‘Mother Ook-bar-loo continued – One man would not eat the flesh of his frozen and starved companions, and therefore when her nephew, Too-shoo-ar-thar-i-u, found Aglooka (Crozier) and three other Koblunas with him, Aglooka, who was the one that would not eat human flesh, was very thin and almost starved. One of the three men with Aglooka died, for he was very sick. He did not die from hunger, but because he was very sick’.

‘In the spring, Crozier and the remaining two men accompanied this cousin on the Boothia Felix Peninsula to Neitchille, where there were many Inuit. Crozier and each of his men had many guns and plenty of ammunition, and many pretty things. They killed a great many ducks, nowyers (gulls), &c with their guns.’

‘At length, Crozier with his two men and one Inut, who took along a ki-ak (an Indian rubber boat, as Ebierbing thinks it was, for all along the ribs there was something that could be filled with air), left Neitchille to try to go to the kobluna’s country, taking a south course.’

‘The astounding news that Ag-loo-ka (Crozier) arrived with one man, amongst the Kin-na-pa-toos, his powder and shot nearly all gone!’

However Hall shortly before he left the Arctic collected additional testimony from a Captain Fisher of the whaler ‘Ansel Gibbs’.  Captain Fisher obtained his information from the Kin-na-pa-toos – the Inuit who live along the Chesterfield Inlet – during a visit to the whaling ships in winter quarters at Marble Island in winter 1868-1869. The testimony was that a white man had arrived amongst the Kin-no-pa-toos many years before. He was starved to death there so that his possessions could be obtained. Another white man was with him but died before reaching the Kin-na-pa-toos. Captain Fisher believed the man starved was Captain Crozier but gave no reason. According to the reconstruction of Roobol (2019), based on a sword he gifted his rescuer, the man was possibly Marine Sergeant Solomon Tozer.