Skulls of members of the Franklin Expedition, discovered and buried by William Skinner and Paddy Gibson in 1945, at King William Island, N.W.T. (now Nunavut), are shown in this photo from the National Archives of Canada Collections

A curse of the lost Franklin expedition?

The small Inuit community of Gjoa Haven is reeling from a spate of recent deaths in the community.  In a two-week period, an accident with an ATV claimed two lives, a father and son drowned, a local school teacher had a sudden heart attack and an community elder died at a care centre.

Everyone in the small community,  located relatively near the wreck sites,  has been touched by the tragedies, and there has been talk that it’s because divers have been disturbing the wrecks of the lost and ill-fated Franklin expedition of 1845.

Engraving by George Back, as he drew the HMS Terror trapped in ice but on an earlier mission 1836, before Franklin was assigned the ship for his 1845 mission.

The ships HMS Erebus, and HMS Terror were finally located after years of searching. Erebus was found in 2014, and Terror in 2016.

There has been talk that the exploration of the ships has caused a curse to fall on the community.

from CBC News

Local resident Jacob Keanik quoted in the CBC said, “”People are superstitious. They feel there is a connection between the deaths and disturbing the wreck sites,”

Parks Canada staff have pointed out no bodies have been found in the wrecks, and if any were found, they would not be disturbed.

Marc-André Bernier, Parks Canada’s manager of underwater archaeology, sets a marine biology sampling quadrat on the port side hull of HMS Erebus in 2015. (Parks Canada)

Inuit “Guardians” who had earlier performed a blessing of the HMS Erebus have just recently performed a blessing of the HMS Terror, after the tragic community deaths.

All members of the Franklin expedition died, and there was talk of cannibalism among the crew as they sought to survive and travel south from the ships frozen in ice.

As to why they Inuit didn’t help them, there are stories that the crew, haggard, starving, dirty, half mad, and speaking in a strange language created panic in the Inuit who had never seen a white man, let alone one of fearful zombie-like aspect.

Other stories tell of trying to help a few stragglers, but also tales of bodies on ships, in tents, or left on the landscape.

Additional information-sources

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