The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #129573   Message #4096329
Posted By: GUEST,Observer
06-Mar-21 - 11:18 AM
Thread Name: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
Subject: RE: Concerning Franklin and His Gallant Crew - 1845
" I hope that they are left in their resting place."

In which case they will most certainly decay and be lost forever. These ships are not graves, they were abandoned by their crews, unlike say the "Mary Rose" which sank with great loss of life. Fortunately for our understanding of the period, the "Mary Rose", once found, was subject to removal from the seabed and extensive archaeological investigation and preservation. Could there be similar advantages in raising HMS Terror? The significance of this particular ship is in her state of "completeness" and a detailed study of it would determine how she actually got to her final resting place [It is currently believed that she had to have been sailed there, she is in a sheltered position bound to the North by shallow water, islands and rocks]. The importance of that is that if she was sailed there then the Franklin Expedition, or at least one of it's ships DID actually make it through the North-West Passage.

As for the fate of Polar Bears? They do not require ice for survival, they are extremely good swimmers, there are masses of uninhabited islands and a plentiful food supply.