HMS Erebus on ice 1846 by Francois Etienne Musin
The North-West Passage: An Arctic Obsession, May 23 2009 – January 3, 2010
The new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum explores the long-held fascination with navigating a passage through the Arctic, linking the historical feats of endurance and tragedies faced by explorers through the centuries with the social and geographical issues facing the region today.
The chronological journey through the exploits of the Arctic explorers starts with the enormous early interest in the mapping and exploring of the Arctic as a viable trade route. The North West passage would have cut hundreds of miles off shipping routes by linking the north Atlantic with the north Pacific.
Early exploration proved somewhat fruitless – Sir Martin Frobisher made three voyages to discover the North West passage in the 1500s but not only did he fail to discover the passage but to add insult to injury, he brought back 1400 tons of igneous rock thought to contain gold that turned out to be completely worthless.
A party from His Majesty's ship Resolution shooting sea horses (1778) by John Webber
Captain Cook was the next explorer to take on the challenge on his third and final voyage. The paintings on display from Cook's era show the inhospitable landscape that the often ill-prepared crew were forced to navigate and the lengths they had to go to get food.
One painting depicts Cook's crew hunting for "sea horses" or walruses, but the men were not partial to a bit of walrus, describing the flesh as "disgustful" in taste.
The hunting theme is important to the exploration of the passage as it highlights the key role whalers played in Arctic exploration. It also makes for some impactful and fearsome objects.
Alongside whale bounty including a delicately carved whale tooth, are the tools used to kill and process the whale. A brutal-looking harpoon is on display next to a blubber spade used for the stomach churning purpose of scraping up the blubber before it was boiled down to create the oil that was used for burning, as a lubricant and to make soap.
Sir James Clark Ross by John R Wildman
Life was not always so grim at sea during this Arctic obsession. Crew members took a great sense of national pride in their adventures and this is shown by the miniature Union Jack in the exhibition. Entertainment was also important during these long and perilous voyages and we are told how the lonesome sailors far away at sea would don women’s clothes to entertain their fellow crew members.
One of the key figures of the middle sections of the exhibition who never came within a walrus's tusk of the Arctic was Lady Jane Franklin, who clearly had an eye for an explorer. She particularly rated James Clarke Ross and you can make your own judgement as his impressive portrait is on display.
However some were viewed less favourably by Lady Jane, including John Ross Short who she described as "stout and sailor looking… his features are coarse and thick… yet he has a great deal of intelligence, benevolence and good honour in his countenance."
Sir John Franklin, Arctic Explorer 1786-1847
After much exploring, Jane eventually found the explorer she pined for and married Sir John Franklin, whose expedition to the Arctic was the biggest and most disastrous. The crew, with enough provisions to last three years and 2000 books to keep them entertained, departed from England in May 1847 and were last seen by a whaling boat in July of the same year.
Jane Franklin never gave up hope of finding her husband – during the next ten years more than 40 searches - both private and public - were made to look for him.
A touching letter written by Jane appears in the exhibition: "You must have always have felt that in would never rest till I had more tidings of you," she writes. "It is my heart’s sole thought; the one and only object and occupation of all my faculties and energies. My own dear husband it is for you I live."
Captain Francis McClintock eventually discovered evidence that Sir John and his crew were dead in 1859 from a combination of lead poisoning from the tinned food, scurvy and exposure to the elements.
Letter from Lady Jane Franklin to her husband Sir Joh Franklin dated March 1853
Despite huge efforts from Franklin Ross et al, the British were not the first to successfully navigate the North West passage. The honour went to Roald Amundsen from 1903-06, who sailed his small herring boat, Gjoa.
The exhibition ends with a look at the contemporary issues affecting the Arctic – in particular global warming – and the environmental impact of modern shipping now the Arctic is a viable shipping route.
For native people there is much concern that the world is disappearing from around them and in 2007 the North West passage became free of ice for the first time since records began making the passage a fully navigable shipping route. Experts estimate that by 2030 the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free leading to even more increases in shipping.
The environmental impact of this increase and the fact that a large proportion of the world's remaining reserves of oil and gas lie under the region mean that the Arctic and its native people face an uncertain future.
Visit the National Maritime Museum for more information.
