Beechey Island Grave Marker - John Torrington - Terror

High Arctic Travel Picture Gallery Canada: Beechey Island, Lancaster Sound | Bylot Island, Lancaster Sound | Baffin Island, Baffin Bay 1 | Baffin Island, Baffin Bay 2  Greenland: Uummannaq | Disko Bay, Ilulissat, Sisimuit | Sisimuiut, Evigshed Fjord | Sondre Stromfjord, Greenland  Svalbard

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Day 1 of the cruise proper saw us arrive at Beechey Island the first wintering site of Sir John Franklin's "lost" expedition of 1845 to find a route through the fabled "Northwest Passage" to the East Indies. The expedition was last seen by whalers in August 1845 in Baffin Bay, they were never seen again, their story taking some 150 years to be pieced together.

This is the grave of John Torrington of the Terror, the first man to die. An exhumation and autopsy was carried out in 1984, his corpse having been well preserved by permafrost. He was found to have died of pneumonia with a contributing factor of lead poisoning. The lead may have come from the solder of the food cans or from a novel water purification plant on the ship.

Air temp: +3º C Latitude: 74º 43' N Longitude: 91º 48' W

 

These are pictures from a cruise to the High Arctic in August 2010, from Resolute Bay Canada to Kangerlussuaq in Greenland.
Pictures copyright Paul Ward. Pentax digital equipment.

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