32. The unreported boat masts seen by the Anderson expedition in 1855.

In summer 1855 the Anderson expedition explored Chantry Inlet searching for remains of the Franklin expedition. At the end of the search with the canoes in poor condition, Anderson sent four men by Halkett inflatable boat to search Maconochie Island. What they found is a strange story that was given by Captain David Woodman (1992, p. 276).

In 1890, some 35 years after the expedition, Canadian geologist Joseph Burr   Tyrrell met with one of the Anderson expedition men – Joseph Boucher – who told him that after the expedition had returned, he had learned that a ship had been sighted far out in the ice. Anderson had not been told as the men feared crossing the ice to the ship and delaying their return home. In 1893 Tyrrell met with three of the expedition members – Edward Kipling, Paulet Papanakies and Thomas Mustagan.  The latter had accompanied Dr. John Rae on his 1853-54 expedition and been paid £260 as his share of the reward for their discovering the fate of the lost Franklin expedition. The three men supported the information provided by Boucher. Papanakies had met an Inut who was fishing at the mouth of a river.  He told him that a ship had been ruined and many people died. Only Papanakies had seen the ship as he had climbed the highest hill on the small island. He saw only rocks and ice, but two masts were standing up far out in the ice.  He thought it was a ship, but Captain David Woodman correctly suggested they were more likely to be the masts of a boat. Tyrrell thought he might have seen the masts of the boat at Starvation Cove, but this was overturned to provide shelter for the men left there. Also Papanakies masts had been far out in the ice.  More information unreported to Anderson emerged.  On western Montreal Island, there was a track where a small boat had been dragged across the island. This was followed and the boat found broken into small pieces.

Having a second boat in Chantrey Inlet is a great help to understanding the history of the Franklin expedition, because at present the fate of two of the four boats used in the 1848 retreat is unknown. It is difficult however to accept that a boat survived in the ice from 1847 to 1855. However let us accept the presence of a second boat in Chantry Inlet.   It then becomes possible that the Inuit there salvaged items from two boats.  The first to arrive might have come as part of the 1848 retreat.  It had probably reached Douglas Bay where the sledge and seven men were abandoned and then sailed into Chantrey Inlet.  The second boat was possibly abandoned at Terror Bay in 1848 to be used in the 1850 retreat that got as far as Starvation Cove on the Adelaide Peninsula, where the boat was abandoned with possibly ten sick men.  A small number of men may then have proceeded on foot.

On 8th August (with the canoes in a battered condition), the Anderson expedition  began retracing its 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 and possibly another in Chantrey Inlet.

Surgeon Stanley’s snowshoes found by the Anderson expedition in Chantrey Inlet hints at why the large party seen in 1850 in Washington Bay divided. The party that went to Starvation Cove might have been led by an Erebus officer, while the one that followed the coast of King William Island was probably led by two Terror officers (see the descriptions of Franklin’s men by the Inuit).

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.

The large wooden sledge that carried the boat in 1850 to Starvation Cove 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 their Franklin relics from Starvation Cove and possibly a second boat in Chantrey Inlet.