Unravelling the Franklin Mystery

by Woodman, David C.

• ISBN13: 9780773508330
• ISBN10: 0773508333
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1991-10-01
• Publisher: McGill Queens Univ

Summary

Woodman maintains that fewer than ten bodies were found at Starvation Cove and that the last survivors left the cove in 1851, three years after the standard account assumes them to be dead. Woodman also disputes the conclusion of Owen Beattie and John Geiger's book Frozen in Time that lead-poisoning was a major contributing cause of the disaster. Much of the Inuit testimony presented in Unravelling the Franklin Mystery has never before been published. The earliest Woodman quotes was recorded by Franklin searchers only nine years after the disappearance of the Franklin team. Inuit testimony provided Woodman with the pivotal clue in his re-construction of the puzzle of the Franklin disaster: I proceeded from the assumption that all Inuit stories concerning white men should have a discoverable factual basis ... [and] managed to discover a scenario which allowed use of all of the native recollections, solved some troubling discrepancies in the physical evidence, and led to some significant new conclusions as to the fate of the beleaguered sailors. Whether or not one agrees with Woodman's conclusions, his account is compelling and his analysis impressive.

Table of Contents

List of Maps, Figures, and Tables	ix
Author's Note	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Illustrations	xiv
Introduction	3	(8)
PART ONE THE EVIDENCE
First Contact	11	(12)
The Investigation	23	(14)
The Witnesses	37	(19)
Omanek and Adam Beck	56	(13)
Poctes Bay	69	(14)
A Season of Search	83	(15)
Crozier's Choice	98	(12)
Victory Point	110	(13)
PART TWO THE TESTIMONY
Incident at Teekeenu	123	(16)
Nuvertaro	139	(13)
Toonoonee	152	(11)
Keeuna	163	(17)
Pooyetta's Search	180	(14)
Toolooa and Aglooka	194	(15)
Toolooark's Ships	209	(18)
``Then Aglooka Was the Eshemuta''	227	(21)
Aglooka's Ship	248	(14)
Keeweewoo	262	(8)
The Trail to Shartoo	270	(21)
In-nook-poo-zhe-jook's Boats	291	(14)
Too-shoo-art-thariu	305	(14)
The Verdict	319	(22)
APPENDICES
1 Erebus and Terror Crew List	327	(4)
2 Inuit Place Names	331	(3)
3 Principal Witnesses	334	(2)
4 Lead Poisoning	336	(3)
5 Glossary of Terms	339	(2)
Notes	341	(26)
Bibliography	367	(16)
Index	383