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John Franklin - a canibal ?
last update: Jun 29, 2009 10:33 AM
From various news articles: In his new book "Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation", Andrew Lambert, he says that there was nothing successful or noble about Franklin's expedition in 1845.
For the British, John Franklin shone as a navigator and led several Arctic expeditions, surviving one only by eating his footwear, earning the nickname "the man who ate his boots", but Lambert states that Franklin really did little for the reputation of British polar exploration.
He did not discover the Northwest Passage (although this was a story told to the British public), his men were driven mad by scurvy and lead from contaminated tinned food after their ships were trapped in sea ice. None of the 129 survived, many eaten by deranged comrades, who left their bones and their splintered skulls strewn on Canada's King William Island.
His reputation was upheld by his widow and the Admiralty.
Read more:
Guardian, 28th June 2009
Mail Online, 26th June 2009
