King William Island Research Articles

William Robert Hobson (1831-1880)

In April 1854 Dr. John Rae heard from Inuit at Pelly Bay an account of the last fateful days of Franklin's expedition, missing somewhere to the west for a number of years. ... When his report of his discovery reached England, Lady Jane Franklin mounted a private expedition ... to search for relics of the expedition on the site. Commander of the expedition was Captain Francis Leopold McClintock .... McClintock chose Lieutenant William Robert Hobson as his second-in-command. ... William joined the Navy in 1845 and was promoted to mate in 1852, in the interim serving aboard a number of ships on fairly routine duties. Early in 1853 he was appointed mate aboard Rattlesnake, which had been ordered to take supplies to Plover, waiting at Point Barrow, Alaska, in support of McClure's Investigator and Collinson's Enterprise. These latter ships had entered the Arctic via Bering Strait in 1850 to search for the Franklin expedition from the west. ... In February, Hobson, with two seamen and nine dogs, set off on a sledge journey northward across the Seward Peninsula to Chamisso Island. This had been set as the rendezvous for Frederick Beechey in Blossom and John Franklin during the latter's second land expedition in 1825-1827, and hence it was thought that Franklin might have headed here again. Hobson's task was to check for signs of Franklin at Chamisso Island. He returned to Rattlesnake on 27 March, having reached his goal and finding no sign of Franklin. ... On the basis of this arctic experience, McClintock chose Hobson as his second-in-command for his search expedition aboard Fox. Sailing from Aberdeen on 2 July 1857, Fox made her way north to Melville Bay, where she was caught in the pack ice and drifted for eight months before she could break free. The Fox found more secure winter quarters the next year at Port Kennedy, near the east end of Bellot Strait, and Hobson led several depot-laying trips to the west side of Boothia Peninsula. During a reconnaissance trip in February 1859, McClintock encountered Inuit near Cape Victoria who possessed various relics from the missing Erebus and Terror, and reported that one of them had been crushed west of King William Island. On the basis of this information McClintock and Hobson set off, each leading a party that included one man-hauled sledge and one dog sledge. ... Heading west across Ross Strait, Hobson and his men reached the coast of King William Island. Near Cape Felix they found a cairn and the remains of a camp; by the clothing and equipment scattered around, Hobson deduced it had been a hunting or observatory camp occupied for quite some time by a party from Erebus and Terror. Three days later they found another cairn, originally built by James Ross, and inside it, in a cylinder, the only record that has ever been found describing, in frustratingly brief terms, the final outcome of the Franklin expedition, including the information that Franklin had died in 1847 and ending with the horrifying announcement that the survivors were about to start to walk south to the nearest fur trade post. ... Hobson and his men continued south on 7 May. For nearly two weeks they struggled south along the barren west coast of King William Island despite almost constant blizzards. ... Hobson reached Simpson's cairn at Cape Herschel on the 19th. Next, he crossed Simpson Strait to the mainland and continued some distance farther east, finally turning back on the 21st. ... For his achievements on King William Island, made in the face of vile weather and despite a progressively incapacitating attack of scurvy, Hobson deserves better than the passing recognition that has been accorded to him.

Francis Crozier (1796-1848?)

... On 22 April 1848, the Erebus and Terror were abandoned and Captains Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames led the survivors down the west coast of King William Island in a desperate bid to reach the North American mainland. The rest is tragic history. Crozier's failure, if indeed the failure is his, must be understood in the light of his past successes: because he was not inexperienced in polar matters, the reasons for the Franklin tragedy are even more mysterious and perplexing. [This profile describes Crozier's expedition's to the Arctic and Antarctic with James Ross, his successes and tragic failures.]

Discovery of human remains from Sir John Franklin’s last expedition

A survey of the south coast of King William Island in the south-central Arctic has revealed new information on the last Sir John Franklin expedition (1845–1848) in search of a Northwest Passage. The undisturbed skeletal remains of an expedition member were discovered and are here described. In addition, two graves previously related to the Franklin expedition in the same area are shown to be of 19th century Inuit origin.

Charles Francis Hall (1821-1871)

Hall conceived an interest in arctic exploration in his late thirties and in 1859 he mounted his first expedition in search of Franklin. He sailed to Baffin Island on board a whaling vessel and was fortunate to encounter an English-speaking Eskimo couple when he was put on shore. They taught him about arctic survival and were his loyal companions throughout his life. His next trip north was made in 1865. This time the whaling vessel put him ashore at Roe's Welcome Sound in Hudson's Bay. In 1869 he finally reached King William Island where he found relics from the Franklin Expedition, but gave up hope of finding any survivors. In 1871 he sailed north as leader of a full-scale expedition, aboard the Polaris. He and the leader of the scientific staff, Dr. Emil Bessels, shared very poor relations, and once the ship and crew had settled for the winter in Hall Basin, Hall briefly travelled by sledge northwards, returned to the ship, and after drinking a cup of coffee became violently ill. He died two weeks later. His body was exhumed in 1968 by Chauncey Loomis, Hall's biographer. An autopsy revealed that Hall had been given large doses of arsenic, which was commonly used as a medicine, prior to his death. It is not known whether Dr. Bessels did this, accidentally or otherwise, or the arsenic was self-administered. However, Dr. Bessels never admitted to the Board of enquiry that he administered any arsenic to Charles Hall.

Netsilik Eskimo Material Culture: The Roald Amundsen Collection from King William Island, by J. Garth Taylor

Netsilik Eskimo Material Culture: The Roald Amundsen Collection from King William Island, by J. Garth Taylor

Northern Highlights of Canada's Centennial

Reports among other projects: Yellowknife was named Territorial Capital of the Northwest Territories, eleven first ascents of Centennial Range peaks were made; 22 men, airlifted into the area where Franklin's ships disappeared, searched King William Island and Boothia Peninsula for Sir John Franklin's grave; and in May 1967, a group attached to the Polar Continental Shelf Project, of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, Canada, carried out hydrographic, gravity, and astronomical investigations from drifting ice and near the North Pole.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

String-Bogs in the Arctic 400 Miles North of the Tree-Line

With rapidly expanding economic activity in the Arctic and Subarctic, knowledge of th influence of terrain, soil and vegeta ion characteristics on construction and communication is of increasing importance. Radforth (1959, p. 50) warns, for example, that muskeg presents such formidable difficulties to transportation that it might . . plunge the oil industry into type of financing that contemporary economics will label prohibitive. Similarly, the discussion on the distribution and origin of string-bogs, especially the comments of Williams (1959) on the note of (1958), indicates the need for further study of the problem, if only because of the suggestion that they can be taken as an indication of the presence or absence of permafrost, which wrongly interpreted might have disastrous results to construction. Drury (1956, p. 119) defines strangmoor which is synonymous with as a bog on whose surface are patterns, festoons or nets of vegetation growing on mossy ridges between which are present patches of standing water or sedge meadow.,, On the subject of the distribution of string-bogs, Williams (1959, p. 145) relates that Troll (1944) has pointed out that they are restricted to areas with continental climate of only moderate cold, lying outside the region of continuous permafrost.'' Drury (1956, p. 52), on the basis of his observations in Eastern Canada and Alaska, agrees with Troll that: liStrangmoor is phenomenon of the region just south of continuous At least their distribution coincides with the northern edge of boreal forest, which within 200-mile limits corresponds with the limit of con? tinuous permafrost. Hamelin (1957) finds string bogs in the Quebec-Labrador peninsula, south of the line of continuous permafrost, restricted to the zone with the southern limit of the 50th parallel and northern limit of the 55th parallel. Allington (1958, p. 91), on the basis of her studies of bogs in central Labrador, defines them as related genetically to seasonally frozen ground and not to permafrost, which in this area occurs in palsas only. Patterned fens, which are form of string-bog, are described by Sjors (1959) from the Hudson Bay lowlands where permafrost is again restricted to palsas. Williams (1959) supports the view of Troll, and concludes that Mackay must be referring to different features of localized occurrence when mentioning string-bogs on Cornwallis Island. On the other hand, ridges and hummocks described by Hanson in the Kotzebue area in Alaska appear to be similar to string-bogs and were found on permanently frozen ground with an active layer ranging in depth from 10-5 to 27 inches (1950, p. 624). The writer, while working on King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula, N.W.T., for the Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, in the summer of 1956, observed numerous staircase ponds, thrust ponds and stringbogs. Both King William Island and Adelaide Peninsula have been glaciated and subsequently submerged, the surface material reflecting this history (see Fig. 1). The shape of the features observed on Adelaide Peninsula fits the description of most string-bogs, but in this area mineral soil is incorporated in their structure, and there were many indications that vegetation was not prerequisite in their formation. They form peculiar pattern which resembles fingerprints on the aerial photographs of the area. These features appear to be string-bogs, but they do not indicate areas free of permafrost, as Adelaide Peninsula lies well within the zone of continuous permafrost and about 400 miles north of the tree line. It is an area of extreme cold, with mean annual minimum temperature of ? 500 F. and mean annual precipitation of only 6

The position of Victory Point, King William Island

The narratives of the explorers who have visited the north-west coast of King William Island, and some of the maps, do not agree concerning the position of Victory Point, where, in the opinion of most writers, Captain F. R. M. Crozier, R.N., landed and left a record in April 1848 after abandoning H.M. ships Erebus and Terror. Since a complete survey of the locality is only a question of time, it may be useful to put on record the present knowledge of the subject.

Notes On Franklin Relics

Mr. L. A. Learmonth, formerly of the Fur Trade Department, Hudson's Bay Company and a Fellow of the Arctic Institute has provided Arctic with notes and sketch maps concerning traces of the Franklin Expedition found in the King William Island region of northern Canada. The map published here is based on the Canadian National Topographic Series map on a scale of 8 miles to the inch, with amendments by Mr. Learmonth. The following items refer to the large map. Mr. Learmonth and Mr. D. G. Sturrock discovered the remains of three men at Tikeraniyou (1) together with a George IV Half Crown and a large ivory sailor's button (Pootogo). The remains were taken to Gjoa Haven and the relics forwarded to Hudson's Bay House, Winnipeg. The place is a point of land shaped like a crooked finger, and is where the land bends round to the southwest, between 12 and 15 miles west of Starvation Cove. A skull and some bones were found at (2) near Washington Bay late in June 1942 and were taken to Gjoa Haven. Two skulls were discovered on the beach at (3) near Tulloch Point in June 1942 and forwarded to the R.C.M.P. at Cambridge Bay, where they were buried near the grave of Patsy Klengenberg. Remains of seven of Franklin's men were found at (4), Douglas Bay, by Paddy Gibson. Bones of four of Franklin's men were moved from islands at (5) and along with three others from Tikeraniyou were buried under the beacon at Gjoa Haven. The following items refer to the small inset map of the Richardson Point area. Jaw bones of three white men discovered at (1) in June 1942. Most of the teeth were in place, in good condition, and not ground down as would have been the case with adult Eskimos. Mr. Learmonth also found one whole skull and many large bones scattered on the surface close to an old Eskimo seal cache. Moss had grown over many of the bones. He erected a small cairn where the bones were discovered, and a larger one at the sky line on the ridge above, and which can readily be seen from the sea.He took all the bones to Gjoa Haven. Neniook, Eyaritituk's mother, about seventy years old, reported having come across the skeletons of seven white men still partly clothed in blue serge, and partly buried in the sand and seaweed on a small island in the vicinity of (2). Hard boots with nails in the soles were also noted by Neniook who was a small child at the time. She was not available at the time Mr. Learmonth searched several small islands in the vicinity very carefully, but he failed to discover any evidence. In a letter accompanying the above notes Mr. Learmonth suggests that it might be appropriate for a cairn or other memorial to be erected at Victory Point, King William Island commemorating the landing of 105 men under Crozier from the abandoned Erebus and Terror. It was there, he points out, that the only written record ever recovered from the expedition was found. He also suggests a cairn and a memorial plaque for the grave of the seven men buried near the Hudson's Bay Company post at Gjoa Haven. Their names of course are unknown, but did they not die in a great cause? Whoever they may be, did they not fight as tough a battle as any unknown soldier? In August 1948, Mr. Learmonth flew north from Winnipeg on the H.B.C. Canso with Mr. R. H. Chesshire, Manager of the Fur Trade Department. He plans to remain in the area of Fort Ross throughout the winter, in order to carry out archaeological, geographical and other studies.

Some Further Traces of the Franklin Retreat

THIS is the narrative of an overland trip along the south coast of King William Island, from Gjoa Haven to the western entrance to Simpson Strait, during the months of June and July 1931, with Mr. William Skinner, of the Hudson's Bay Company. Our principal object was to search for remains of members ofthe Franklin Expedition, reported by the Eskimo. Gjoa Haven is an excellent small land-locked harbour on the eastern shore of Petersen Bay, with a post of the Hudson's Bay Company: the trading centre for an extensive area. The harbour was discovered in 1903 by the late Captain Roald Amundsen, during the course of his North-West Passage, and sheltered the Gjoa for two consecutive winters. Striking out from the harbour across the ice of the bay, the western shore is gained in about three hours' walking. At this period of the year the short arctic summer is at hand; the weather is mild and often pleasant; most of the winter snows have disappeared from the land; and the surface of the ice is covered with pools and small lakes of water of varying depths up to 2 or 3 feet. With native water-boots made from seal skin the feet are adequately protected and the surface water is no great impediment to walking. For this trip we had dispensed with the use of dogs, which allowed us more freedom to examine the shore-line. With the assistance of a native boy we packedwhat equipment was necessary: a small silk tent, two caribou skins, a light blanket, primus lamp, food, extra boots, etc. The packs weighed about 60 lb. each and proved of no great discomfort, except on those days when the hot sun shone down from an unclouded sky with almost tropical force. For food we depended on the easily procured seal and the small salmon-trout which are obtainable through holes in the lake-ice. The western shore of Petersen Bay runs south-westerly as far as the Todd Islands, which are 18 miles distant from Gjoa Haven. The island is of limestone, the coast exceedingly rocky and bare of vegetation except in low-lying patches, where mosses, grasses, and a profusion and variety ofthe hardy alpine flowers lend a pleasing contrast to the sombreness of the landscape in general. The land rises gently from the coast in a series of terraces to an immediate and fairly uniform height of 150 feet; numerous shoals and low rocky islets occur at regular intervals along the beach. Booth Point, the westerly extremity of Petersen Bay, is not a prominent landmark. Several native stone caches and tent rings were found here; these are quite common all along the coast. At this point we also discovered a number of Eskimo graves, arranged after the manner of surface burial peculiar to the people. A ring of small boulders surrounds the remains, placed on the surface wrapped in caribou or seal skins. Time and weather remove all traces except the whitened bones and the ring of boulders, which latter are symbolical protection from the influence of malicious spirits. On every grave are miniature weapons, fashioned from wood or bone, for the hunters, and diminutive household goods for the women. Booth Point marks the most easterly point on King William Island at which