In 1848, two ships and 129 crew members led by British polar explorer Sir John Franklin disappeared amidst the Arctic ice. In 2014, 166 years later, an expedition of top scientists, divers, and local Inuit worked together to recover the long-lost wreckage. In Ice Ghosts, Paul Watson, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who accompanied the team, relays the exciting account of that discovery expedition. Along the way, he chronicles the historical adventure story of Sir Franklin and the crew of the HMS Erebus and Terror setting off in search of the fabled Northwest Passage, the hazards they encountered, and the reasons they were forced to abandon ship hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost of Western civilization. After many decades of searching only turned up cannibalism rumors and a few scattered papers and bones, Inuit lore combined with the latest science yielded an archaeological treasure from the frozen depths of the Arctic.
Presented by: University Book Store and Town Hall as a part of our Civics series.
Series supported by:
True Brown Foundation
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