Ice Blink Essay

Matt Kisiday
Ice Blink Essay
Due Sept. 15th 2008
    Fit For the Job
The Franklin Expedition was equipped with two top notched ships, the HMS Erebus, and HMS Terror. According to Cookman, these ships were considered “space shuttles of their day; built to go, quite literally, where no ship had gone before.”(36). The Erebus and Terror were bomb ships built to endure “crushing recoil of 5 ton mortars firing 13 inch shells packed with 200 pounds of explosives.”(37) These two ships were the best fit for Franklin’s polar expeditions of the Northwest Passage because they had been at sea before, and were designed with the best technology and crafting techniques to assure the men a safe voyage.
“Erebus was a Hecla class bomb ship, the largest and last purpose built bomb vessel commissioned by the Royal Navy. Launched at Pembroke Dockyard in 1826, she was the biggest ship Barrow had sent in search of the Passage. Some 372 tons, 105 feet long with a 29 foot beam. Terror was an older (launched 1813), smaller Vesuvius class bomb ship of 326 tons, 102 feet long with a 27 foot beam. (Among its other distinctions, Terror had participated in the attack on Ft. McHenry in the War of 1812; so the “bombs bursting in air” in the “Star Spangled Banner” quite likely came from Terror.”(37)
Both the Erebus and Terror had been at sea before, and were best known for their Antarctic voyage in 1839-1843. On this voyage they planted the English flag farther south then anyone had ever traveled. The HMS Terror was also known for surviving in the Arctic while being beset in ice. After losing its rudders it still managed to detach itself from the ice’s lifeless
grip and sail Commander George Back and his men to safety. Being able to escape the ice with no rudders was a huge potential benefit for Franklin’s exploration. With reputations like these there is no wonder why the Erebus and Terror were chosen to sail Franklin and his men on their voyage.
Sir John Barrow was the man who designed...