Ships’ Message Cylinders

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It was moving to see that another century’s explorer’s practice of leaving messages in sealed metal tubes within rock cairns is still followed by some familiar with the practice. It’s especially poignant to behold this as Sir Franklin failed to leave as many messages as was expected of him. This omission hindered all efforts to find the Franklin party as well as adding to the mystery of the ensuing tragedy.

Cross of Cans, Northumberland House site, Beechey I.

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Here the View from one of the memorials out over Erebus and Terror bay and Northumberland House. This solid structure was built by the relief parties sent to find Franklin and by Comm.Belcher crews prom the Polar Star. Note the Cross of Cans in the foreground. The cans were very primitive and you can still see the lead Solder on the Tin. This lead content was part of the demise of many a sailor in the North around this time..Along with Scurvy and hypothermia….

Fwd: Visiting the Franklin Expedition Graves, Beechey I.

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Again the shear scale of everything here and the quiet. The history of the Franklin expedition is tragic, as it was for the Rescuers for over 10 years they were looking for clues as to what happened to the expedition. Here the “base” for the start of Franklins trip and as a base for the many ships that went to look for him. There is several graves on the shore from Sailors who passed away while in the Arctic. 3 are from Franklins expedition..HMS Terror and Erebus and 1 from HMS Investigator along with at least 1 unmarked grave.

Fwd: Radstock

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From Our Secret Harbour, we continued on West to Radstock Bay and Caswell’s Tower. The run started early and We were there by Lunch time. Caswell’s Tower is as you can see a Gibraltar type block of rock.. At the Top there is a hut where you can see for miles around. This spot was used for decades to count and watch Polar bears, in relative safety. We did not go up there as the path way has sheared off the top about 150m from the Plateau. We did Tender run in our Zodiac Milpro with the crew and guests looking for Walrus and Polar Bears.

Unknown Harbour...

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74.31n 087.22w Air Temp 3c Water Temp 3c

From Croker, which was getting too busy with another boat arriving..We headed back out to the West to a small anchorage about 70nm further along the coast. It was stunning, quiet and with 2 Glaciers inside the tiny harbour! On entering we saw a Walrus family sunbathing on the beach. They were non plussed until the anchor went down..