The Franklin Expedition: 129 Men Vanished in the Arctic — What Really Happened | True Survival Story

In May 1845, Sir John Franklin sailed from England with two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and 129 men to complete the Northwest Passage. They were last seen by whalers in Baffin Bay that July. None of them came home. This is the story of what happened to them — pieced together from one handwritten note, from bones, from Inuit testimony, and from two shipwrecks found in 2014 and 2016. The Franklin expedition left England in 1845 to complete the Northwest Passage. The Franklin expedition's ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, were trapped in the ice off King William Island in 1846, and no one returned. This true survival story follows the Franklin expedition through its only surviving note, the search led by Lady Franklin, and the discovery of both wrecks. It is a true survival story with no survivors — and a lesson the Franklin expedition learned too late. CHAPTERS 0:00 The note in the cairn 1:29 The Northwest Passage 3:07 Last seen 4:41 Beset 6:06 Franklin's death 7:14 The message 8:55 The march 10:29 The search 12:25 What killed them 14:10 Found New true survival story every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — subscribe to Survival Story Hour. Follow on Facebook:   / survivalstoryhour   ─────────────── SOURCES FOR THIS TRUE SURVIVAL STORY • Wikipedia — Franklin's lost expedition: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankli... • CBC News — Parks Canada and Inuit historian Louie Kamookak: https://www.cbc.ca/1.4293114 • Global News — Parks Canada collects Inuit testimony on the Franklin expedition: https://globalnews.ca/news/4026192/fr... • Canadian Museum of History — Inuit Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition: https://historymuseum.ca/blog/?p=12474 • Owen Beattie & John Geiger, Frozen in Time (1987) • Historical images: public domain via Wikimedia Commons (Royal Museums Greenwich, Illustrated London News, McClintock's 1859 narrative). Beechey Island photographs: CC BY-SA, credited to their Wikimedia Commons authors What killed the crew is still debated. Lead poisoning from tinned food was the leading theory for decades; later studies questioned it and pointed to zinc deficiency, scurvy, tuberculosis, cold and starvation. Some researchers believe a few men survived beyond 1848. Inuit accounts and archaeological evidence indicate survival cannibalism in the final stage; this is described in one sentence, without graphic detail. Every true survival story on Survival Story Hour is told from real sources. These are true stories, not survival advice. If you are in danger, contact your local emergency services. Narration uses a synthetic voice. Background music is original and generated for this channel. #TrueSurvivalStory #FranklinExpedition #SurvivalStories