Items were found on the northwest side of Amisk Lake at a place that might have been occupied by a survey and foraging party, possibly in the winter of 1819. Many of Franklin's men were Navy personnel. A belt buckle found had emblem markings indicating that it was of Navy origin (currently on display at the Denare Beach Museum).
Pierre Burton in his book, "The Arctic Grail," recounts the exploration. Franklin's first expedition succeeded in mapping 50 miles of the North American coast east of the Coppermine; otherwise the expedition was a disaster. Franklin's expedition from the beginning suffered from acute shortages of supplies. When they arrived at the Coppermine in July 1821, their supplies of ammunition and food were critically low. The party was reduced to 20 men and two canoes. On August 18, Franklin decided to turn back.
The voyageurs were close to rebellion. The two canoes were too badly damaged to return by water. They would have to walk if they wished to survive. Their main diet had become lichen. Nine men died of starvation or exposure. A man later suspected of cannibalism shot midshipman Robert Hood. Surgeon and naturalist John Richardson was given the task of executing Hood's attacker.
When the party eventually reached Fort Enterprise, they found that the natives there had not stocked it with food. Forced to survive on bones and skins, they were finally rescued by passing natives, who took them to Fort Providence.
Franklin quickly became known in the British Empire as the man who had eaten his shoes. In total, 11 members of his expedition died. In hindsight, questions have been directed towards the choice of Franklin leading an expedition where hardships would have been the norm. Burton writes that, "In 1819 Franklin was 33 years old. He was plump and unaccustomed to hard exercise and an inexperienced inland traveler."
By the time of Franklin's second overland expedition, which was better organized and more successful, the Hudson Bay Company had amalgamated with the North West Company and they were anxious to forestall the Russians, who were making significant inroads in the fur industry on the Alaska Seaboard.
To do this, they needed to map and explore the Arctic Coast by ship for a North West Passage. And so in 1845, encouraged by the HBC, the British Admiralty sent Franklin, who was considered to be their best choice for the hazardous Arctic journey, even if he was 59 years of age and well past his prime.
In 1847, when Franklin's 1845 sea expedition had finally been reported missing, Kennedy, a man of French-Cree heritage, and Joseph Renee Ballot, an ex-French officer, under funding from Jane Franklin, went overland to the Arctic to find him. They failed.
Kennedy, when he was only 5 years of age, had met Franklin upon his first stopover at Cumberland House. His memories were of a kindly man who taught him his ABCs and preached at the local church.
The search for Franklin went on until 1857, when his fate was finally confirmed. He and his entire crew had perished after abandoning their ice-bound ships on the Arctic Ocean. While Franklin had died on the frozen sea, some of his crew actually made landfall at the Blackfish River and were no doubt using the maps he had prepared during his earlier overland expeditions from Cumberland House.
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