S0325-001

Keel of boat brought back by Schwatka Long Caption: The keel of a boat with piece of keel-stem and keelson attached and a large iron ring. Part of a boat abandoned at Erebus Bay, King William Island by members of Sir John Franklin's 1845-48 expedition. It was sighted by F. L. McClintock's search expedition in May 1859 and retrieved by the Schwatka expedition in July 1879. In the years between the two search expeditions the Inuit had broken the boat up. They reported to Hall and Schwatka, that they had found a second boat at Erebus Bay and 14 more skeletons. Although Schwatka could not find the other boat, he discovered the bones of four Europeans in this area. Barry Ranford found a boat site on a small island in Erebus Bay in 1993. An excavation revealed the remains of eleven more individuals. Credit line: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London Object: AAA2282 Artist: unknown Date: circa 1845 Medium: iron; oak Size: Overall: 381 x 1702 x 89 mm Click here to buy a bespoke print of this image.