Searching for Franklin

Two of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin’s expeditions were monumental failures. Yet many still see the Royal Navy man as a heroic figure who sacrificed himself to discover the Northwest Passage.

This book interweaves two narratives. The first treats the Royal Navy’s Arctic Overland Expedition of 1819, a harbinger-misadventure during which Franklin rejected the advice of Dene and Metis leaders and lost eleven of his twenty-one men. The second discovers a startling new answer to that greatest of Arctic mysteries: what was the root cause of the catastrophe that engulfed Franklin’s last expedition?

The well-preserved wrecks of Erebus and Terror promise to yield more clues about what cost the lives of the expedition members, some of whom were reduced to cannibalism. Contemporary researchers continue to seek conclusive evidence both underwater and on land.

Drawing on his own research and Inuit oral accounts, McGoogan teases out many intriguing aspects of Franklin’s expeditions, including the explorer’s lethal hubris in ignoring the expert advice of the Dene leader Akaitcho. Franklin disappeared into the Arctic in 1845, yet people remain fascinated with his final doomed voyage: what happened?